Expert Contributor TJ Warner JHL Landscaping
How Fall Lawn Cleanup Helps Your Spring Lawn It will soon be too cold for much outdoor activity, so if your fall lawn cleanup is still on your TO-DO list, prioritizing it is highly recommended. Completing that task will not only make your home’s exterior look well cared for, your time and effort spent now will pay dividends in the spring: less to clean up after winter before doing some spring landscaping and preparing and planting your flower beds. Because leaves fall over several months, cleaning them up often understandably depends on your availability. The final cleanup session can be quicker and require less effort if several cleanup sessions have already happened. You can use some leaves as mulch, of course, but should have the rest hauled away. Some townships offer that service, but if yours doesn’t, you should consider getting all that debris hauled away. When doing your fall cleanup, you should remove from your property all leaves (except for what you put in your mulch pile), fallen twigs and tree branches, shrubbery clippings and other yard debris. Skipping this step risks attracting to your lawn and landscaping insects and vegetation pests that could end up killing your grass. After cleanup, exposure to sunlight will help your lawn efficiently store nutrients for winter.
Winterizing your irrigation system requires draining all pipes and turning off the water supply. If you forget or skip that critical step, you may discover in the spring that you must repair or replace your lawn’s irrigation system. NS
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Make Your New Year’s Resolution to Entertain Outdoors in 2021.
Fertilizing your lawn is one of the best ways to ensure your lawn has the nutrients it needs for optimal future growth. Even if your grass turns brown during winter, it’s just dormant. As winter gradually changes to spring, your lawn will use stored nutrients as growth resumes and speeds up due to more sunlight and warmer temperatures. So, optimal spring grass growth depends heavily on fall fertilizing. Your final fall cleanup should include a final cut of your lawn, to manicure the turf for winter. Also be sure to thoroughly clean your home’s gutters and downspouts, to ensure the gutters are completely clear of all debris before snowfall. Your lawn’s irrigation system should also be winterized to ensure that your sprinkler pipes don’t freeze or break during the winter months.
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