Whether we like it or not, Fall is approaching… those golden days of summer are fading and cooler wetter weather is on the horizon. Summer is a beautiful time of year in the garden but so is fall. Here are a few pro recommendations for how to anticipate how to care for your garden and landscape in autumn:
1) Fall Lawn Care: With the return of cooler wetter weather, lawns will actually start to grow and green up again in fall. Depending on what part of Canada you live in, the autumn season my have varying lengths. Regardless, during the shoulder season between summer and that first frost, it’s wise to do a lawn revamp to help set it up for overwintering and spring health. Fall is a great time to feed and boost your lawn via broadcast lawn food & fertilizer. Costco carries a great product that works well in this application. Before spreading fertilizer, first ensure you’ve raked any leaves from the grass surface. You also remove thatch when you briskly rake a lawn, which encourages overall health, especially if your lawn is not irrigated and goes brown (dormant) during the summer months. Mow to a 1.5-2” height. You can start to lower the blade on your mower to a shorter cut over the fall season to help care for the grass as it begins to go dormant. Next, optional but recommended, is aerating your lawn, which encourages oxygen and drainage. Over-seeding helps fill in areas that may have been sparse as well as keep out weeds. Spreading grass seed over your entire lawn will ensure even grass coverage. Lastly, fertilize early enough in the fall to allow the lawn to take up the added nutrition before the first snow fall.
2) Fall Containers : Fall is also a lovely time of year to create beautiful planters and front entry vignettes as a way of adding seasonal colour to your garden and containers. Some of the best plant choices are Mums, Sedums, Decorative Kales sand Cabbages, Pansies, African daisyes, Chrysanthemums, Asters, as well as foliage plants such as Coral Bells (Heuchera), Sages, and Heather. Again, select plant materials that will do well based on your Zone. Monrovia has a great plant catalogue that can help you determine what’s best for your specific needs. I also love adding pumpkins and guords into fall containers, especially at the beginning of October, for a lovely Thanksgiving aesthetic. Adding birch branches creates height and structure and can also be used as the seasons shift from Fall to Winter for Christmas containers. There are a whole variety of branches you can add to your containers to create interest.
3) Transplanting, Maintenance, & Planting : Fall and spring are generally ideal times of year to plant trees, shrubs, hedges, and perennials. It’s also a great time of year to shift existing plants around in the landscape. The cooler and wetter weather works in concert with plant movement to minimize shock on plant roots and encourages better success with plants post installation. If you’ve noticed things in your garden are a bit too close or simply want to change it up, fall is perfect. If you’re planting ornamental perennials, your local garden centre will usually be blowing out end of season clearance plants. Grasses, shasta daisy, echinacea, as well as a many woody shrubs and even evergreen plants can often be found discounted at this time of year. To ensure better take, plant with some bone meal for faster root action. You can begin fall maintenance by pruning and dead heading spent perennials, and cleaning up the garden as plants go dormant. Salvaging leaves for composting or adding to the garden as a compost layer helps return nutrition back to the landscape. If using leaves as a top dressing, you’ll remove them in spring before new growth appears, and add them to your composter then.
4) Exterior Care : Fall is also a good time of year to clean your roof, exterior siding, gutters, hard surfaces, and exterior carpentry features. You can often hire a company to provide this service for you or you can generally rent / purchase the equipment yourself. Power washing hard surfaces help remove mildew and mold buildup and keeps things clean. Removing leaf and branch debris from roofs and gutters ensures rain runoff will flow properly away from your home. Depending on the weather, if you get warm and dry conditions, you may have a chance to stain and treat exterior carpentry features such as fences, decks, and gates post cleaning.
5) Landscape Lighting: As the days get shorter, they get darker and the need for landscape lighting becomes 1obvious. If there are dark or unsafe areas of your garden or yard, especially steps, pathways, and driveways that are difficult to see, you may want to consider adding landscape lighting. You can either work with a landscape lighting design & install company to create a lighting plan and coordinate installation or you can simply install DIY solar powered / LED exterior lighting solutions, depending on what your budget is. String lights are also a lovely way to exchange your front entry or back yard and are available at www.costco.ca as well as Wayfare and Amazon. Path lights help to indicate pedestrian access zones while up / down lights accent trees and house #’s – illumination in the garden is the finishing touch for a beautiful fall and winter landscape.
Jenn Hembruch is a Residential Landscape Designer and gardener with over 10 years experience working in some of Vancouver finest gardens. Learn more about her at www.paeoniagardens.ca
