Fall is a time for final outdoor preparations for winter weather. Here are three great ways to prepare your yard for spring, starting now!
Autumn is usually a welcome time of year. Like springtime, fall brings about relief from the previous season’s extreme weather. Fall is full of beautiful weather, fresh air, colorful foliage, and spicy fragrances and flavors! In this, the season of pumpkin spice everything, there are still a few essential chores outdoors.
Fall lawn tips for healthy spring emergence.
Lawn care in the fall is just as essential as spring and summer, if not more. There are some simple solutions for having a healthier lawn next year, if you take a little time to prepare now. This includes watering. Your lawn still needs watering until the ground begins to freeze.
- Reseed – Reseeding your lawn in late summer or early fall. Over-seeding now will take care of bare spots left by hot summer sun. Our lawns retain water much better in the fall. Plus, autumn grass sprouts will not be damaged by the sun.
- Fertilize – Ask your local lawn expert about the best fertilizer blend for your particular type of grass and soil conditions. Apply fertilizer a few weeks before your last mowing. You can also use a mulching mower to mulch fall leaves into all-natural fertilizer, which will lay atop your lawn, and decompose in the winter.
- Cut grass short – Cutting your lawn shorter than normal for your last mowing is important because long blades of grass will become matted under snowfall, and suffocate springtime sprouts beneath. Cutting grass to 1.5 to 2 inches in the late fall will also help prevent snow mold.
Keep tender bulbs indoors this winter.
Many gardeners allow their tender bulb blooms to die each year. Gladiolus, calla lilies, and dahlias don’t have to die. Forget purchasing new and replanting each year. You can choose to plant your tender bulbs in planters, so they can be taken in for winter storage in your cool basement or garage. Periodic watering is all that is required, just to ensure that the soil never completely dries out. Otherwise, you can plant your tender bulbs in the ground, and dig them up for proper storage through the winter fore springtime reemergence.
Autumn tick control for a safer yard in the springtime.
The prevalence of Lyme disease and other tick-borne diseases has us all rethinking tick control. Tick control efforts no longer end with the change of season. You can actually protect your family better next spring and summer by continuing tick control in the “off season.” Tick tubes are the answer! Tick tubes are biodegradable, cotton-filled tubes, which are placed around your home and property in the fall and winter. The cotton inside is treated with pesticide. Mice, common carries of Lyme bacteria, which infect larval ticks, will carry this cotton to their nests. The pesticide does not harm the mice, but it will kill ticks that are in the nest, or try to take their blood meal from a mouse, who has nested with this treated cotton.
How does this help in the spring? Eliminating larval ticks in the fall and winter means less ticks emerging in the springtime. Prepare for a great spring and summer, starting right now!
Also read: Do ticks die in winter?
