31 Oct Reap the benefits you sow
As the season begins to slow down, lawn maintenance begins to ramp up. Investing in your lawn and landscapes now will help determine the health and appearance of your landscape next spring. Our team of experts has put together a fall checklist to help you prepare for those cold months.
Bare spots
Contrary to popular believe, fall is the absolute best time to seed thin or bare areas in your lawn. Seedlings will root better and be hardier next summer rather than waiting for the spring.
Winterize water features and irrigation system
Start by draining your backflow, blowing out the irrigation lines, and draining water feature pumps. When temps begin to drop below 32 degrees, remember to protect your backflow and copper pipes with old blankets or towels. This will help insulate against the cold Nebraska weather to reduce the risk of breaking. Keep the covering dry with a plastic bag or tarp.
Pruning
Industry best practices recommends cutting back spent perennials to 3-4” and remove debris. If you need help determining if a perennial is dormant or dead, check out this blog post. Plants such as Coralbells, Russian Sage, and Astilbe are not cold tolerant and should be left to prune in the spring time. Leave up native grasses, Sedum, and Hydrangeas to continue visual appeal. These perennials look great in the winter! Shape and resize (if necessary) hedge rows and mature shrubs. Inspect all plant life for signs of damage or stress: bugs, watering, disease, fungus, etc.
Detail landscape beds
Each gardener is unique in how they like their landscape beds to look. Our team of professionals suggest these key areas in detailing: clean up leaves, remove remaining weeds, rake around perimeter, tidy natural edges and borders, turnover and rake mulch or tidy up river rock.
Winter is unfortunately coming, and as we all know once the snow hits it’s all downhill from there. With so much to do and so little time, don’t get caught up in the lists. Remember to enjoy the small and important things. Most importantly, don’t wait to make plans for your spring installs. Call us today to design your dream over the winter hibernation!