Fall lawn maintenance is important for many New Jersey homeowners. It’s important to prepare your lawn and garden for the coming winter months. The team here at Chris James Landscaping has put together this guide for you to help you do your fall landscaping.
Provide Lawn Maintenance
As we head into winter, you might be tempted to let your lawn go after all your tiring efforts during the summer. However, it’s important to continue maintaining your lawn to prepare it for winter. A lawn that goes into winter overgrown is more prone to insect damage and lawn disease.
During the fall, continue mowing your lawn as needed. It’s also important to regularly water your lawn and garden if there are days without any rain. Even though it might be colder, your lawn will still need water.
Use Organic Products on Your Lawn
Organic lawn care products not only help to protect the environment but they also protect your kids and your pets. Organic products will also give you a healthier lawn over the coming years. The chemicals found in many other lawn care products kill off the beneficial insects found in your lawn. These insects, such as earthworms, naturally aerate your lawn and promote healthy root growth.
Fertilize and Aerate Your Lawn
Most people fertilize in the spring to prepare their lawn for summer. However, it’s important that you don’t forget the fall fertilizer as it’s equally important. Applying fertilizer in the fall will help prepare your lawn and plants for the upcoming period of dormancy.
Fertilizer will help replenish nutrients that were lost during the summer. Aerating your lawn will loosen the soil and promote drainage. Aerating and fertilizing will ensure your lawn is healthy for the upcoming freezing months.
Mulch Your Garden
If you applied mulch in the spring, now is the time to make sure it’s evenly spread around your garden. Mulch serves a few purposes such as:
- Retains soil moisture
- Prevents weed growth
- Keeps soil temperatures even
- Cuts down on soil compaction
- Gives your garden a finished look
If you don’t have mulch in your garden then fall is a good time to spread it throughout your garden.
Over-Seed Your Lawn
Early fall is a good time to put down new lawn seed. This can help areas that became trampled or stressed during the summer months. Fall is a good time for this since there will be more rain and the temperatures will be cooler. You’ll want to make sure you plant it with plenty of time before the first frost hits.
Prune Shrubs and Plants
Fall is also a good time to cut back dead stocks from your spring bulb flowers such as daffodils and irises. You can also cut down bulb flowers that have finished blooming. You can also switch out summer annuals with fall annuals such as mums and pansies.
You’ll also want to prune plants and shrubs to help them survive winter and the extra stress of ice and snow. It’s important to make sure you know which plants to prune and which ones to leave alone. Certain plants such as hydrangeas might not flower in the spring if they are pruned in the fall.
Call Us to Help You Out
Chris James Landscaping provides fall landscaping services. If you’re feeling overwhelmed with lawn care needs or if you don’t have the time then our team is happy to help you out. We’re proud to be able to serve our community here in New Jersey. Give us a call today!