Fall checklist for landscaping – The Second Spring – Part 1

Fall is one of the best times to improve your lawn, trees, shrubs, and garden. The basic maintenance you do during this “second spring” after summer will pay off in healthier growth and fewer problems next spring and summer. The soil is still warm despite the falling temperatures, the weeks ahead are an ideal time to put many plants into the ground. Here’s the first of three blog installments on your fall landscaping checklist.

Part One: Lawn care
Fertilize – Fall fertilizing helps keep lawns vigorous and healthy where growing seasons are long and reduces the length of a dormant period during which the lawn is an unattractive brown.
Weed – Dandelions, broadleaf plantain, and ground ivy, can be pulled out by hand anytime. But autumn is when they’re most vulnerable to weed killers.
Continue mowing – until grass has stopped growing.
Seed – fall is a good time to lay seed so that your lawn gets a head start in the spring.
Water your lawn thoroughly – Rains have been sparce recently, apply plenty of water, even if temperatures are cool. Lawns that enter winter stressed from drought are more likely to have damage by cold weather and arrive weaker in the spring.