As you witness plants and trees dying for the year, it may seem counterintuitive to continue watering your landscaping. In fact, it is important for you to continue watering through the fall so that plants can store up enough water for the winter.

If you want your landscaping to come back healthy and strong in the spring, make sure you water through the fall!

Is it important to water in the fall?

Yes! In order to keep your lawn and landscaping healthy, make sure you spend time watering this fall. Even though you may not be able to see any visible growth, grass, trees, and perennials are still growing. But rather than growing up, they’re growing their root systems underground.

Fall is the perfect time for root growth because the soil is warm from the hot days of summer and the air is cooling off. The plants aren’t as stressed from the summer heat, so they can focus on root growth. 

It’s important to continue to water a couple times a week to combat dry air from wind or lack of rain. It’s a lot of work to transition from the growing season to the dormant season. Give your plants a little extra hand and keep watering!

How much should I be watering my landscaping?

It may be a good idea to give your plants and grass slightly less water than you were giving them in the spring and summer. While it’s necessary to continue watering for the roots’ sake, you don’t want your visible lawn and landscaping to end up frozen from the cool morning air. 

Try adjusting your sprinklers so that the water stays closer to the ground, rather than shooting wide and far around your yard. You can even let a thin stream of water run through your garden hose at the base of trees and shrubs for 30 minutes. The small stream will soak deeply into the soil and adequately saturate the roots.

When should I stop watering my landscaping?

You shouldn’t completely stop watering your lawn and landscaping until the ground freezes. You can gradually reduce the frequency and amount of watering, but don’t completely stop until you’re waking up to frost on the ground.

Don’t waste time watering the wrong things. Have you pulled up all your annuals? They don’t need water anymore. While you’re at it, make sure you complete these items on the fall clean-up checklist. 

Call Great Goats Landscaping today!

Great Goats Landscaping is a small, family-owned business. We’re experts in Minnesota landscaping and we would love to help you get your lawn and landscaping ready for the winter. Give us a call today and we’ll help you accomplish everything on the fall clean-up checklist and get your landscaping prepped for spring! 

Now that fall is here, it’s time to use the remaining warm days to prepare your landscaping for the winter. Have you completed everything on this fall clean up checklist?

Clean up debris and remove annuals

It’s time to remove annuals. Pulling them now helps ensure your yard, garden, and flower beds are clear and ready for planting in the spring. Clear fallen branches and prune trees and shrubs, too.

Drain sprinklers and hoses

Drain water from hoses, fountains, and drip irrigation systems. Store them in a dry place. Water left standing over the winter may damage your equipment.

Spread mulch during your fall clean-up

Mulch is one of the best and easiest ways to make sure roses and tender perennials have the highest chance of making it through the winter. Available in most garden and landscaping stores, mulch is reasonably priced and easy to apply. 

Fallen leaves make good mulch too! Straw is another option but choose the straw carefully. If it is full of seeds, you’re going to be pulling a lot more weeds next summer.

Aerate your lawn

Lawn aeration is important because it allows vital nutrients, water, sunlight and oxygen to sink in and reach the root system of your lawn. Lawn aeration is especially crucial this year because Minnesota has had such a hot, dry, and long summer. Stressed grass needs replenishment before spring. 

Fertilize your lawn during fall clean-up

After you aerate your lawn, it’s a perfect time to fertilize. Exposed roots are ready to receive nutrients. Use a fertilizer high in phosphorous to encourage root growth so that you will have a lush, green lawn in the spring. 

Rake the grass as a part of your fall clean-up

It’s important to get the leaves off your grass before the snow comes. Thick and soggy leaves can cause the grass to suffocate, which will undo all your hard work of aerating and fertilizing. As previously mentioned, you can use leaves as a mulch around your trees, especially if you grind them up with a mower. 

Plant bulbs

Now is a great time to look for deals on bulbs and scrubs. The demand is not as high in the fall so prices will be low or discounted. Many bulbs – tulip, crocus, daffodil, hyacinth, anemone and iris – are cold tolerant and can easily spend the winter underground. 

Wrap trees during your fall clean-up

Trees, especially new and young trees, stand a much better chance of survival if they are wrapped and protected from deer and other animals. Hungry animals can damage their bark through the winter months if trees aren’t wrapped.

Call Great Goats Landscaping

Great Goats Landscaping is a small, local business that loves collaborating with homeowners to create a one-of-a-kind landscaping design. We offer a variety of services, and we’d love to help you complete your fall clean-up checklist. Give us a call today!

Maintaining your lawn is one of the most important aspects of landscaping. To keep all your landscaping look pristine, lawn aeration is crucial. Brown grass will be an eyesore, even if you have many beautiful landscaping features.

What is lawn aeration?

Lawn aeration is the process of extracting cores of soil, thatch, and grass from the surface of the lawn to increase nutrient availability, water penetration, and soil air exchange. 

Why should I aerate my lawn?

Lawn aeration is important because it allows vital nutrients, water, sunlight and oxygen to sink in and reach the root system of your lawn. Lawn aeration is especially crucial this year because Minnesota has had such a hot, dry, and long summer. The grass is stressed and in need of replenishment before the spring. 

When and how often should I aerate my lawn?

Homeowners should aerate their lawn once a year. Fall is the perfect season for aeration because the air temperature is cooler and the soil temperature is still warm from the summer. Aeration and thatching can be hard on your grass. Aerating in the fall gives your grass a less stressful environment and allows it plenty of time to recover before spring.

Aerating in the fall sets your lawn up for success for next year. Your grass will be healthy and ready to grow in the spring, and will have the nutrients it needs for a luscious look all summer.

What should I do with the leftover plugs?

Aeration removes small plugs of soil from your lawn to allow the remaining soil to breathe and have access to nutrients. As a result, there will be plugs of soil all over your lawn. Leave them there! Because they contain soil microorganisms, they will help break down thatch and will degrade back into the ground – no clean up for you!

Key benefits of lawn aeration

• Aeration prompts healthy grass: Aeration allows the roots to grow deep which leads to a healthy lawn that can ward off weeds.
• Relieves soil compaction: especially important if your yard receives a lot of foot traffic from pets and kids!
• Reduces thatch: which is a layer of dead and living shoots, stems, and roots that builds up between the grass and soil surface. Thatch makes it difficult for the grass roots to access sunlight, water, and nutrients.
• Promotes new growth: Aeration gives your lawn more room to grow in the spring and summer. 

Call Great Goats Landscaping today!

Great Goats Landscaping is a local landscaping company that loves to collaborate with homeowners to create a one-of-a-kind landscaping design. We’d love to help you with your landscaping this fall. Give us a call today!