Fall Clean-up for your Landscape: Part 2

Fall is finally here! Cooler temperatures and bright autumn foliage are hopefully in the process of conquering your end of summer blues. Below you will find the second installment of our fall landscaping tips...which will keep your yard healthy and looking good until the spring!

·   Mulch your beds in the fall to protect the roots of your plants from winter frost and help retain moisture during a dry winter. Spread 2-3” around shrubs and trees. The best practice is to avoid using free mulch found in municipal piles which often contain disease spores.

·   Early in the fall, or up until the ground freezes, is a good time to plant trees and shrubs. The cooler temperatures and autumn rain put less stress on the young landscaping plants.

·   Remove dead landscaping! Deadhead expired blooms, and cut back dead perennials and ornamental grasses. If you do this now rather than wait until spring, you’ll avoid having to look at an untidy and depressing landscape all winter long as well as having to complete this chore when spring comes.

By creating small holes in your turf,
water, nutrients & oxygen are circulated
through the root system of the grass.



·   Aerate your lawn! By creating small holes in your lawn, aeration helps loosen compacted soil and helps water, nutrients and oxygen to permeate to the roots of the grass.



·   Fall can be a great time to over-seed your lawn since the stresses of heat, dry soil and weeds are likely to be lower. The process involves sowing seed over existing grass, in order to fill in the bare patches. Therefore, over-seeding lawns makes sense only if the existing grass is healthy enough and abundant enough to be worth keeping. To give the new seed a better chance of sprouting, mow the existing grass shorter than you normally would so that it won’t rob the seed of much needed sunlight. Make sure your lawn has been aerated prior to over-seeding.

·   Keep raking! Regularly removing fallen leaves from your lawn will help avoid smothering the grass. As the season draws to a close and most of the leaves have been raked, the final scattered leaves can be shredded with a mulching mower and left on the lawn with finely chopped grass clippings. The leaves and clippings will decompose and add organic matter to the soil.

·   Call Clearwater to schedule a fall clean-up today! We can take care of the pruning, mulching, over-seeding and aeration you need to keep your landscaped yard healthy and looking good until spring! Call 301-607-4480 (toll free 800-944-7227) or contact us through email!