Giving your landscape some TLC in the fall will help your grass and plants overwinter successfully. And you’ll set the spring season off to a great start. It’s important to know what is included in fall clean up with a landscaping company in Naperville, IL. The pros know what it takes to maintain a landscape for optimal health and beauty!
With fall comes slower plant growth and the early stages of preparation for winter. When the leaves start to fall, treat your landscape to a thorough fall clean up. Just like regularly changing the oil in your car, it’s one of the best ways to ensure less work next season!
Fall lawn care
While fall brings glorious colors, letting your grass languish under a thick blanket of fallen leaves can cause problems. Grass doesn’t like being smothered by leaves, especially when they’re wet. Many landscaping companies now advise that instead of raking up fallen leaves, it’s better to mulch them and spread them throughout your lawn to give it added nutrients for winter. And it’s a simple process to mulch dry leaves with a lawnmower. If the weather doesn’t cooperate and fallen leaves get soaked by frequent rains, raking is the only option. Either way, your grass will be happier.
Fall is also the time to check the pH of the soil, add fertilizer and pre-emergent herbicide as needed, dethatch and aerate the lawn, and overseed any bare patches. Although growth has slowed in the fall, grass still needs to be mowed. Fall mowing can be more of a crew cut than a trim and should be continued until the grass stops growing. Grass needs to continue to be watered deeply until the ground freezes. To avoid overwatering, use a professional irrigation system with a rain sensor. One inch per week of water is plenty, whether it’s from rain or irrigation. The only exception is overseeded or newly planted lawns, which require more water until the ground freezes.
Related: Benefits of Incorporating Mulch in Your Plainfield, IL, Landscaping
Fall tree and shrub care
Pruning and trimming are a part of fall landscape maintenance to ensure healthy growth, safety, and aesthetically pleasing trees and shrubs. Trees and shrubs benefit from a thick layer of organic mulch to help them retain water and withstand extreme temperatures. In a dry fall, be sure to continue watering your trees and shrubs. They suffer just as much from cold-weather drought as from hot-weather drought. Fall is also for planting, so if you want to add trees or shrubs to your landscape, do so now. Also, ensure that they are nurtured throughout the fall with water and fertilizer, as recommended.
Fall flower garden care
Keep flower beds looking great by removing dead flowers, trimming back perennials, planting bulbs and fall annuals, adding organic mulch to insulate perennials and prevent dehydration, and clearing debris from flower beds. Continue watering your flower gardens if Nature doesn’t provide rain, until the ground freezes.
Related: Bring Color to Your Elmhurst, IL, Landscaping Every Year With These 5 Perennials
Fall flower garden care
Keep flower beds looking great by removing dead flowers, trimming back perennials, planting bulbs and fall annuals, adding organic mulch to insulate perennials and prevent dehydration, and clearing debris from flower beds. Continue watering your flower gardens if Nature doesn’t provide rain, until the ground freezes.
Related: Bring Color to Your Elmhurst, IL, Landscaping Every Year With These 5 Perennials
Miscellaneous cleanup and fall services
An irrigation system and water feature blowout will keep pipes from freezing and bursting. Other fall cleanup services include debris removal and the application of pre-emergent herbicides, as needed.
While fall clean ups are a lot of work, they are necessary to ensure the health and beauty of your landscape. Give the pros at GoldLeaf a call. We’ll do it for you, so you can enjoy the season!
