Plant!
Fall offers ideal planting conditions for new shrubs, bulbs, perennials, bushes and trees – in fact, anything you want in your yard. Experts say that the energy plants spend on growing taller in the summer gets transferred into developing their root systems in the fall. Autumn planting is the perfect way to make sure your vegetation is well-established for the coming year. Brennan says that fall conditions are also great for dividing plants like hostas.
“You give them the shorter days, the longer nights, and plants aren’t as stressed,” says Luis Mata, associate director of maintenance for Chalet, who points out that you can also take advantage of fall plant sales to build your garden. “You give your plant a cool season now. It develops all its roots. It’s got two seasons before it goes into a tough summer.”
Aerate and fertilize
If you’ve seen grass scattered with what look like little dirt pellets, you’ve probably seen a core-aerated lawn. And now is the time to do it, experts say. You can also turn over the soil in your vegetable gardens.
You might want to call in the professionals on lawn aeration – they have specialized heavy machinery that puts exactly the right-sized holes in turf. But even if you do decide to tackle it yourself, make sure to put aeration on your fall maintenance list.
“To open that lawn up and get air back in there just helps with nutrient uptake,” says Chad Swanson, senior client representative at Lake Bluff-based Mariani Landscape.
And speaking of nutrient uptake, take the opportunity this fall to put down fertilizer for plants, lawns and gardens.
“September is the month when lawns use the most nitrogen fertilizer,” Brennan says. “Anytime you can help the plants grow roots, it’s like adding extra money to the savings account.”
Prepare containers and irrigation systems for cold weather
Go through your yard and garden and conduct winter prep on all containers and irrigation systems. Bring in any containers that can’t withstand our chilly Midwestern winters.
Swanson says terra cotta pots typically crack, but even those that can be left out should be completely cleaned of soil or at least have a way for water to drain out so it doesn’t freeze, expand and crack the pot. There should be a hole in the bottom of the container and feet or a riser to give the hole ground clearance.
If you have winterproof containers, you may still need to wrap them in burlap, he says.
According to Swanson, it’s also crucial to winterize all irrigation systems, a task particularly important for those with rooftop gardens in the city.
“If you have a burst pipe on the 50th floor leaking into the neighbors’ apartments, that could be a real nightmare,” he says.
Keep the water flowing
Watering your lawn and plants may seem strange in the fall, but the experts encourage you to keep the sprinklers going if we’re not getting enough rain to keep our gardens happy.
Mata says plants need an inch of rain per week, which you can monitor with a rain gauge or a clear container. If the rain is inadequate, water your plants and lawn a bit to pick up the slack.
“We want to make sure everything is set to be put to bed for the winter, making sure everything is hydrated and just have it going in the best shape into the spring.”
Mulch – carefully
Mulching in gardens and around trees, bushes and shrubs is a fall must-do, experts say.
“The mulch is good because it helps regulate soil temperature,” Swanson says, leading to “healthier and more vigorous plants.” Without a mulch covering, “new plants can heave up out of the ground and expose portions of the root system” to the damaging elements.
Swanson says the best time to put down mulch in your garden is after your last major leaf cleanup. Putting down mulch too early results in raking and mowing away the product of your hard work.
Similarly, don’t put down too thick of a mulch covering. Swanson says mulch should be about 1 to 2 inches deep.
“Anything over that and you can begin to suffocate plants.”
Winter prep for your type
Swanson says that different types of lawns and gardens need different fall and winter preparation strategies. People are increasingly choosing lawns and gardens with native vegetation that might benefit from more of a hands-off approach.
“In a prairie-type landscape setting, less is more. Let these prairies stay up all winter and reap the benefits of certain insects,” he says. “In an ornamental landscape, the plants aren’t native and there can be a detriment if you leave up a lot of leaf litter that had fungus on it.”
If you’re not sure which type of landscaping you have, professionals can help devise a fall maintenance plan that works for your specific plants and turf.
Remove old vegetable, fruit and annual plants
Experts recommend pulling out all your old fruit and vegetable plants – or at least whatever the rabbits didn’t get a hold of. The same goes for annuals that won’t return next year. Swanson says all of them should be removed at the end of the season, before the ground gets hard.
“You do not want to leave your wilted and frosted-over tomato plants in,” he says. “There are just so many insects and diseases that can stay within that soil.”
Tackle weeds, pests and diseases
The professionals say weeding should be done either by hand-pulling or by using safe herbicides before they have a chance to develop the strong roots that you want reserved for desirable plants. Getting rid of pests like slugs – which can damage turfgrass, fruit and leaves if their numbers get too high – should be done in the fall, too, by using bait containing iron phosphate. And fungicide should be applied at least once more before the first frost to stave off any diseases that have taken hold in your garden or lawn.
Keep the fauna away
With fall being the ideal time for planting, young trees can be particularly vulnerable to deer, which start to rut (mate) in mid-September, says Swanson.
“Deer love to rut on new trees” he says. “A lot of times trees can’t grow through that.”
He recommends wrapping young trees in burlap or fencing them off so that the deer can’t damage them in their rutting season.
Call in the pros
For big jobs, or if you’d just rather spend your fall weekends watching football, going to pumpkin patches and apple-picking, give an arborist, horticulturist or landscaper a call. Full fall cleanups and major overhauls can be tough DIY projects.
“When the lawn is so far gone and you’re really trying to bring it back to good shape, it’s just a big project,” Mata says. “Sometimes you don’t want to give up a couple of weekends to do your fall cleanup.”