Landscaping Tips for the Fall
A perfect-looking spring and summer landscaping Ottawa started during the fall. What you do to your landscape during the fall determines whether you’ll have a picture-perfect outcome during the spring and summer.
Looking to change the scenery of your space and improve its appearance? Here are some landscaping tips to follow this fall.
Shield the Delicate Potted Plants
Have you ever wondered why your delicate potted plants don’t make it through the winter? It’s simple, the temperature is too cold for them to survive. An excellent way to protect them is to shield them from inclement weather.
Dedicate a space within your home and bring the delicate potted plants inside. Being indoors, the potted plants will benefit from the indoor heat during cold and harsh periods. You can return them outside at the start of spring.
Clean Up the Garden Beds
As you head into the colder seasons, your garden beds need love and attention. Now is the time to clean up the garden bed and introduce some mulch to permanent plants and trees. Mulching covers the ground surrounding the plant’s root and provides heat, helping it deal better with the colder seasons.
Remove Dead and Dying Plants
Weak and dying plants will most likely not make it out of the colder season. Now is the chance to evaluate the plants in your garden and yard for their vitality. Ensure that dead plants are removed immediately to clean up your yard and give your landscape a welcoming look.
Dying plants should also be removed during the fall season as they may not make it through the winter. The fall season is also a great time to cut back on the ornamentals.
Add New Plants
Out with the old and in with the new. Ensure that the dead or dying plants are replaced to give your landscape and property a full look and feel.
When replacing dead plants, go for plants that do better in the colder season. You can ask a landscaper for plant recommendations before the cold season.
The cool temperature is an excellent reason to add new plants to your landscape during the fall. Cooler temperatures are great for working in your yard (as you don’t have to worry about heat stroke or sunburn). The cool temperature is also milder on establishing plants that don’t have to battle pests and insects as they find their roots.
Plant Bulbs
As stated earlier, a picturesque garden or landscape in spring and summer starts from the fall season. Adding bulbs to your landscape in the fall season sets a perfect timeline for a beautiful landscape in spring. The bulbs would have grown, matured, and are ready to blossom in the spring season.
Not sure which bulbs to plant this fall? Some options include;
- Hyacinths
- Tulips
- Crocuses
- Daffodils
Get Rid of the Leaves
Leaving dead leaves to build up in your yard is bad. It can leave brown and appalling patches on your landscape. Worse still, the decomposition process can kill healthy plants, leaving bare patches in your yard.
Get out your rake or leaf blower and start gathering the dead leaves to protect your landscape from diseases and enable access to more sunlight.
Boost Your Lawn
Fall is a great time to give your lawn the boost it needs. Speak to a landscaping contractor about the fertilizer options you could use for your lawn.
Ensure you add a generous amount of fertilizer but not too much to your lawn. Adding too much fertilizer overloads your lawn, encourages nutrients to escape to the surrounding areas, and can contaminate the environment.
Try the late fall winterizing fertilizer in November if you’ve missed the September/October rush to fertilize your lawn.
Protect the Evergreen Trees
The evergreen trees are a blessing to your landscape. They stay green all year round and add character and beauty to your space. Fall is a great time to appreciate those trees for their contribution to your landscape.
Give your evergreen trees a boost by watering them appropriately and adding some fertilizer if needed. You can also add some dormant oil to protect them during the winter. The dormant oil will keep them from drying out during those cold winter weeks.
Prepare Your Water Lines
Plumbing issues can be expensive to fix, so you should have an effective winterization strategy in place. Ahead of the winter season, remove all water hoses and splitters from outdoor spigots. Ensure that the water line is turned off to eliminate water in them and prevent pipe freezing.
You can also blow air into your irrigation lines to remove residual water and prevent freezing during the winter months.
Common tips to keep in mind as you prepare your water line for winter include;
- Shut the water mains leading to the landscape, yard, or garden off
- Get a blower to blow out all residual water in your water lines.
- Turn off the water source for sinks and drain out the water in your outdoor kitchen plumbing
- Turn off the water source to your water features.
- Put an insulated cover on your outdoor spigot to keep it warm.
Clean and Store Your Summer Equipment
Having the right tools for your landscaping needs can significantly ease stress and make the work faster. You don’t want to risk losing your tools and equipment to rust or damage.
Now is the time to clean all your landscaping tools, get rid of the dirt on them, wash, dry, and store them in a cool and dry place. Ensure that all equipment, including hoses, weed eaters, mowers, sprinklers, trimmers, etc., are appropriately stashed away.
Purchase and add fuel stabilizers to any if you have any gas-powered equipment.
Clean the Gutters
Gutters have a natural affinity for fallen leaves and other debris. The fall season is a perfect time to exercise your muscles by cleaning them out so that rainwater can flow easily through them and down the downspouts.
You can also contact a gutter cleaning company to handle this, especially if you fear heights or don’t know how to clean the rain gutters.
You’re sure to have a well-prepared fall landscape with the tips above. Doing it all will also increase your chances of a brilliant landscape during the spring and summer months. Visit https://mcdcontracting.ca/ for help on landscaping problems.
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Ottawa Ontario K1K 1E6,
613-314-5154
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