It’s that time of the year again here in Canada. The weather is cooling down, soon enough leaves will start turning red, and fall will be upon us. What should you do to ensure your yard and garden look their best next spring? Find our tips below!
1. Don’t forget to fertilize
Fall is the best time of the year to apply fertilizer to your lawn. Your grass will be starting to build up and store nutrients to help it survive the upcoming winter, you can do your best to help by applying winterizing fertilizers with moderate levels of nitrogen.
How Hardware provides a list of products to help you with over-seeding and fertilizing.
2. Keep mowing your lawn
If you increased the height of your lawn mower in the summer time, then reduce it back to normal height. Though cutting grass slightly shorter can help it keep from getting damaged under leaves and snow, but do not cut it too short. Robert E. Kozlowski from Cornell University has good guidelines: “mow when your grass is dry and 3 to 3-1/2 inches tall. Never cut it shorter than 2 to 2-1/2 inches or remove more than one third of the leaf surface at any one mowing.”
3. Keep watering your lawn
Don’t stop watering your lawn just because it feels less hot out. Keep water your lawn a couple of times a week and try doing so earlier in the mornings because there is less evaporation and therefore waste of water.
4. Aerate your lawn
Aerating your lawn can dramatically help to improve the appearance of it next year. By aerating, we mean creating air gaps in the soil of your lawn, this can be done through spike or core aerations. It improves drainage in your lawn and reduces the presence of puddles. It will also help grass seed get direct contact with your soil once you to over-seed your lawn (see below).
5. Over-seed your lawn
Is your lawn patchy or uneven? Does it have lots of weeds? There is no better time to over-seed and fill in those bare patches then now. Fall is the best time for seed sowing and germination, due to more morning dew and lower day time temperatures. Having a lush full lawn is also the best defence against weeds. It’s simple: if you don’t give them anywhere to grow then they won’t.
Not sure which grass seed to choose? Landscape Ontario has a list of grass seed types and their qualities.
6. Decorate
Just because a layer of snow will cover your lawn does not mean that your yard shouldn’t feel festive and welcoming. With Halloween and Thanksgiving around the corner, the fall calls for a lot of foot traffic at your porch. Keep yours beautiful with seasonal planters, check out our post on the best plants to include at each season.
If you’d like our help with keeping your lawn beautiful or assembling the best seasonal planters for your home and are located in the GTA, then request a quote today!
