Taking care of your yard is an endeavor that spans the seasons, from the Spring rains to the chill of Fall and Winter. Staying one step ahead on yard maintenance is essential for keeping stress at bay all year long, and with these smart-thinking tips on your side, taking care of backyard business will be simple and sweet.
Aerate Now
Proper aeration is crucial for healthy soil. Aerating your yard ensures that the soil is able to absorb enough oxygen and moisture, and in turn support healthy roots and plant growth. If you haven’t been staying on top of aeration, it’s important that you take care of it before the weather turns and your soil will require more oxygen.
The process of aeration is simple enough: small plugs or spikes are driven into the soil and removed, leaving tiny holes that help the absorption process. If you don’t own an aerator, most garden or home improvement stores offer rental options for this necessary equipment.
Seed Grass
If you want healthy green grass come next Spring, you should start seeding now. Dormant seeding consists of sowing grass seeds in the Winter months for a flourishing sea of green in Spring.
There are a number of tips you’ll need to keep in mind when dormant seeding. This includes:
- Seeds must be sown on bare soil.
- Soil should be loose or recently tilled.
- You will need to rake the soil before seeding in order to remove debris.
Leave your seeds untouched for the season. When Spring arrives, you will have a fresh bed of green grass to enjoy.
Condition the Soil
In the harsh weather of Winter, making sure that your yard’s soil is well-conditioned is essential to its health. Thankfully, conditioning is a simple task that you can tackle before the colder temperatures make their way to you.
Adding organic materials such as compost and mulch to your soil is the simplest method for keeping it well conditioned. You can also leave Winter weeds such as chickweed growing to create a cover that will protect the soil from erosion.
Trim Your Hedges, Bushes, & Trees
It’s always smart to stay on top of trimming, especially after the leaves have fallen and you’re left with a slew of dead branches. Make an afternoon of pruning and shearing your backyard’s trees and shrubs for the season.
Water Responsibly
While logic may dictate that the more watering you do in your yard the better, the opposite is often true in the Winter. Thanks to the high moisture level found in the season’s air, thorough watering may lead to a moisture excess, which leads to root rot and other undesirable growing conditions.
Limit watering to one 15-20 minute session every 2 to 3 weeks. And always water in the afternoon to ensure it’s dry before nighttime to keep the chances of a fungal disease low.
Fertilize Your Trees
The harsh conditions of Winter can be rough on your yard’s trees. In order to keep them healthy all season long, you will want to add some nutrient-rich fertilizer to the mix. Spread mulch around the roots of your trees, making sure to cover them evenly. Feed slow-release fertilizer to the tree’s soil, and never spread when the ground is frozen.
Blow Out Your Sprinkler System
Your sprinklers play a crucial role in keeping your yard in stellar shape. This season, be sure to stay on top of their maintenance so they can perform their best. Winterize your sprinkler with the help of a high-pressure blow out.
Blowing out entails forcing high-pressure air into the valves of your sprinkler system, thus ensuring that no water remains stuck in the pipes. To perform a blow out, you will need an air compressor. Many home improvement stores sell winterization kits for sprinklers to make your blow out a breeze.
Trim Your Annuals
As much as we would like our annual flowers to bloom all year long next to our fire pit covers, the fact of the matter is that these particular blooms simply can’t survive in the Winter months. And for the good of your garden, you will need to uproot them before the cold season comes to fruition.
Protect Your Plants
Keeping your garden safe from frost may seem like a daunting task, but is a fairly simple endeavor thanks to measures like tarps. Tarps feature the same level of protection you would find with grill covers or table covers, but are able to lay flat over your garden beds with ease.
Set up tarps before cold fronts arrive, along with other accessories such as chair covers. Protection from the elements should be your top gardening priority this season, and your plants will thank you for it!
Recent Comments