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Fall Advice Every Lawn and Garden Expert Should Know

Summer is finally over and you are reaping the benefits of a well-manicured lawn and garden. Your landscaping is the talk of the street, and you might be tempted to dust off the gloves and go in for a mug of warm apple cider—but don’t be so bold.

(Written by Clara Beaufort)  You know that a top-notch lawn requires year-round attention, and it’s never too soon to prepare your garden for next year’s spring and summer. There’s no need to fret, following these few steps will leave your yard in tip-top shape, and also leave plenty of time to enjoy your autumnal treats.

Keeping Your Fall Lawn Going Strong

Now is not the time to put away the mower. In fact, your lawn will keep growing until the first big frost, so it’s business as usual until then. You will want your grass height somewhere between 2-3 inches. Cutting your grass too short will cause problems for your roots, which will not be able to reach the proper depth to last the upcoming winter. If your grass is too long, it can leave your lawn vulnerable to winterbourne diseases. You’ll want to keep on trimming even as the leaves fall. Chopping up the foliage will provide plenty of compost for worms to digest and bring down into the earth as they retreat for the oncoming cold. If and when the leaf coverage in your yard becomes too much, begin to rake them in and bag them up. Too many leaves can smother your grass and do a number on your precious lawn. If you really want to flex your lawn muscles, go ahead and save those leaves to use as compost once you’re ready to begin planting again. This is not only a great way to recycle and rack up on environmental savvy points but will save you a buck or two whenever you need natural earth-rich material to bed your bushes, flowers, and trees.

It’s Too Late To Fertilize, Right?

Wrong. In fact, there’s fertilizer you can purchase that will actually strengthen your lawn’s resilience to the extremes this winter. But before you do, have you considered aerating your lawn? Essentially, aeration is when you poke several holes in your ground, breaking up the soil and allowing for much-needed oxygen and nitrogen to re-enter your soil. As an extra tip, take the soil plugs you gather from aerating your lawn and keep them for the expert-grade compost storage you’re using to have an even better lawn and garden next year! Aeration is a simple but very efficient way to jumpstart your yard and keep it growing strong. Aeration should be done at least every two years, to reboot your soil and enhance the growing power of your lawn. Timing is crucial when it comes to fertilizing your lawn, so be sure to do it now before the cold sets in.

Don’t Neglect Your Garden!

When the leaves fall, it doesn’t mean that it’s time to put the garden tools away. As the local lawn guru, you no doubt already know that fall is the perfect time to capitalize on your garden and begin laying the literal groundwork for another year of being the house on the street with the hands-down best garden. You may see your neighbors have let their spring and summer plants shed their foliage and have called it quits until the next year, but being the garden hero you are, you have likely looked into preparing your garden for the best fall look by planting shrubs and evergreens to give your garden a year-round kind of green. Take it a step even further and invest in some fall annuals such as mums or pansies to really add some vibrant colors to your garden this fall! Whether you plan on planting more for the season or not, you will want to continue to water your garden so it remains prepared for the colder months ahead. You will also want to do some essential cleaning, removing dead plant matter beneath your rose bushes to avoid spreading harmful diseases to your flowers and shrubs. Till your soil, add some of that decomposed plant matter if you’ve already stocked up on, and go on and plant those summer bulbs that were the talk of the street a few months ago.

Autumn is no time to fall behind on your lawn and garden maintenance. Make sure you take these steps to keep yours beautiful year-round!

Picture credit: Pixabay.com

Thank you to my guest blogger Clara.  I hope you enjoyed the post.  Please feel free to share.