Ah, Autumn. Is there anything more invigorating than feeling the cool fall breeze on your face as the smell of pumpkin spice wafts through the air? It truly is a magical time of year.
What’s not so magical is the amount of yard work that comes with it.
Fall is the season where we reap the lasts of our harvests as plants begin to die off. And, as most homeowners like you know, those dead plants can be quite an eye sore, not to mention a blow to your curb appeal.
Here at House Hacks Tips, however, we be-leaf that with cooler weather comes a chance to take advantage of all this season has to offer. Keep reading as we share tips homeowners can take to this season to reap the benefits of a healthy, lush lawn next spring.
Winterize By Watering
If you’re one of the majority of US homeowners living in an area experiencing a summer of record heat and drought, you don’t need us to tell you how detrimental these conditions are to your lawn’s livelihood. However, after high temperatures and scorching rays, fall makes for an opportune time to water your lawn to prep the soil for winter.
By watering your lawn daily in the fall, you may not develop lush, green grass like you would in the spring, but you will moisten the soil so your lawn doesn’t go too long in dry soil – a very stressful situation for its root system!
And don’t worry about overwatering dead grass in the fall. By providing a regular watering in the fall months, you’ll be arming your lawn with upwards of three months worth of water to last it throughout the winter. And, keep in mind, as the weather cools down, your yard’s soil will gradually lose moisture through natural evaporation.
Rake Regularly
One of the reasons we all despise raking the yard so much is because of how time consuming it is. That is, if you’re raking up an entire season’s worth of leaves in one day!
Instead, try dedicating one hour a week to raking and cleaning up branches, twigs, and debris from your yard. By keeping up with it throughout the season, you’ll be able to stay ahead of a mountain’s worth of leaves to rake up!
Feed and Fertilize for Future Growth
With the sun’s harsh rays beating down for nearly six months straight, your yard has likely taken a beating. But the fall is the perfect time to repair that drought damage, and provide the essential nutrients your lawn needs to regrow in the spring.
Seeding and fertilizing in the early fall is the perfect planting condition for grass seed, because the air is cool but the soil is still warm from the summer sun. Whatsmore, you’ll leave plenty of time for new growth to develop and form deeper roots before the winter, resulting in a thicker, greener lawn next spring.
Pull and Prune
Some plants naturally grow back in cycles each season (perennials), while others have a
shorter life span of one growing season (annuals). For the latter, which includes potted plants, flowers, and vegetable gardens, you’ll need to pull them up by the root (after your final harvest, of course) and dispose of them in compost.
While you’re at it, this is also the best time of year to prune back dead branches and any overgrown trees and shrubs. By trimming them in the fall, they’ll be able to focus their energy on new growth in the spring.
By keeping up with these light maintenance tasks this autumn, your yard will have the boost it needs to make it through the cooler months, and regrow even stronger in the spring.
Don’t leaf us hanging!
Have a fall-favorite yard cleanup tip or hack? Share it with the community in the comments!