5 Fall Landscaping Mistakes to Avoid

Fall is here and it’s time to make sure that your landscaping is in order and ready for the change to colder, wintery weather. There is no shortage of articles out there advising what you should do to prepare your landscaping for winter. However, sometimes it’s just as important to know what you shouldn’t do when it comes to your landscaping. In this article, we’ll review some common landscaping mistakes to avoid this fall.

Water Too Late in the Year

As a general rule for yardwork and landscaping, the hotter and dryer the weather is, the more water your landscaping needs. When fall hits and the temperatures drop, less evaporation will occur, which means that your grass and plants need less water. Because the ground is losing less water to evaporation, more of it will be available for your landscaping to soak up. Make sure that you take note of the changes in temperature and reduce the amount of watering for plants and your lawn to avoid drowning them!

Related Topic: How to Prep Your Lawn for Fall Season

Discard All Your Leaves

Another common mistake many people make is thinking that they need to burn or discard all of their fallen leaves on their lawn. While this is a good way to get rid of them, why not put them to work for you. Fallen leaves can be used for several things including:

• Natural Fertilizer

  By cutting your leaves up into a mulch, you can use them as fertilizer for your yard. Make sure you are aerating your lawn before spreading any leaves on it. This allows the smaller bits of leaf mulch to sink deep into the soil and release their nutrients closer to the grass roots.

• Winter shield

  While a layer of leaves on your yard could potentially kill it, leaves have the opposite effect on plants and bushes. By covering them with a six-inch layer of leaves, it actually provides protection from the harshest winter weather. The extra layer of insulation can help keep frost from penetration deep into the soil where it can damage roots.

• Fun time with the kids

  There are few things more enjoyable for kids than diving into a huge pile of fallen leaves. The leaves provide a nice cushion for them, and some free entertainment for the adults. Once the fun is over, ask the kids to pitch in with gathering them up so you can dispose of them properly.

Let the Deer Take Over

Deer are beautiful and majestic creatures. If you live in an area when deer are common it’s tempting to let them have free rein around your property. While this might be fun to watch, deer can actually wreak havoc on your landscaping plants and bushes. Putting up protective barriers such as fences around some of your valuable shrubs can help minimize the damage, which will avoid letting the deer ruin all of your hard work.

Forget to Prune

The importance of pruning your plants and bushes before winter hits cannot be overstated. Pruning has many important health benefits for your plants, trees and shrubs. Tree pruning protects and promotes the health of your plants by providing an opportunity for new, healthy branches, fruit and flower to blossom. It also helps deters pests and animals from building nests in your landscaping, which can cause a great deal of harm.

Related Topic: What Happens to Your Lawn During Cold Weather?

Neglect Aerating Cool Season Grass

Aerating your lawn is a lot of work, but it also provides a big reward when spring comes around. Some of the benefits of aerating your lawn include:

• Encourages healthier and more durable grass roots.
• Allows water and air to flow to the soil and roots more easily.
• Helps break up dense and highly compressed soil.
• Allows for better fertilization.
• Prevents mushroom growth.
• Improves insect resistance.
• Improves drought resistance.
• Encourages new growth.
• Help to maintain thatch level in the lawn.

If you want a healthy lawn and landscaping when spring rolls around, then you should be sure to fit aerating into your fall lawn care schedule. If you’re not sure what to do after aerating a lawn, check with your local landscaping professional for advice.

Try to do Everything Yourself

Your beautiful landscaping doesn’t have to suffer just because the weather turns colder. When you know what you should and shouldn’t do for your landscaping this fall, you can keep it looking great throughout the year. But taking care of your landscaping and preparing it for fall and winter is hard work. And with everything else going on in your busy life, it may be hard to get it all done. That’s where The Grounds Guys can help. We have the knowledge and expertise to keep your yard looking great all year. So, whether it’s caring for your lawn this fall and winter, or reviving it next spring, let The Grounds Guys handle it all.