Fall Landscaping Tips 101

The fall season brings beautiful colors and crisp air. It also means cleaning up your lawn, landscaping, and hardscaping to prepare for fall.

In this post, you’ll read about six fall landscaping tips to get your Alexandria, VA, lawn, landscaping, and hardscaping ready for winter.

Test Your Soil

Did you know the health of the soil that houses your plants and turfgrass affects their health as well?

For a soil test, you’ll need to take soil samples from different parts of your property and mix them into a zip-lock bag or a soil box you can obtain from your local extension office. Then, you send the soil sample to your local extension office.

Your soil needs varying plant-available nutrients to grow a healthy lawn and vibrant landscapes. You can fix nutrient problems now, well before the spring season.

Rake or Mulch Your Leaves

Leaf piles are lots of fun to jump into when you’re a kid. So, gather your family to rake up those leaves before Old Man Winter begins.

You can use leaf rakes, buy a leaf sweeper, or mulch the leaves using your mower. Change the lawn mower’s setting to mulch and leave those chopped leaves on your turfgrass to give it a boost of nitrogen.

Don’t allow whole leaves to lay in your yard throughout winter because your turf may develop fungal disease or die.

Revive Mulch in Flowerbeds and Landscaped Areas

You can take a mulching rake or a shovel to turn over the mulch in your landscaped areas and flowerbeds. If your mulch is thinned out, add 2” to 3” of fresh mulch to your landscapes.

Mulch is essential for fall landscaping because it protects plants from frost heave, regulates soil temperature throughout the winter, and keeps moisture in the soil.

Clean Up Your Backyard Patio, Flagstone Walkway, and Walkway Pavers

Your hardscapes need some TLC before winter arrives. Now’s the time to fill in cracks, apply sealant, and pressure wash the surfaces. End the summer season with sparkling clean hardscapes to save you time next spring.

Learn more: Maintaining Your Lawn Before the Winter Cold

Remember Your Feathered Friends This Winter

Since there won’t be a lot of seed and other food for birds this winter, consider putting up bird feeders with different bird seeds, such as black oil sunflower seed, cracked corn, millet, and other bird favorites.

Add suet with meal worms or fruit to attract different birds to your backyard. And make sure to set up these feeders so you can watch from inside your home.

Don’t trim back perennials such as coneflowers, ornamental grasses, and other plants. Birds will eat the seeds left over from summer blooms and ornamental grasses. And insects need a place to hibernate and lay their eggs over the winter.

Leaving plants intact rather than pruning them back will give a rustic look and save time with your fall landscaping.

Visit our garden center for all of your birding needs.

Fall Gardening: Split and Divide Perennials

Not only do perennials live longer than one year in your landscaped beds, but they also grow where you may need to split and divide them.

Typical perennials that need division include

Coneflowers
Daylilies
Heucheras
Hostas
Iris

You want to map out your garden design to see where you want to plant the divided perennials. If you have no more room left in your planting design, consider giving away your split perennials to your friends and neighbors.

If you wait until after it rains, you’ll have an easier time splitting perennials because the soil is loose. Dig up hosta or heuchera and split the plantings with a soil knife or similar tool.

Then, plant divided perennials into their new spots. Don’t fertilize them because it will cause the plants to grow and when there is a frost cause shock to the plants.

Instead, put compost around the crowns and cover them with mulch for a long winter’s sleep.

Now’s a good time to prune trees and shrubs with dead or diseased limbs.

Campbell and Ferrara Helps You with Your Fall Landscaping in Alexandria, VA

Don’t procrastinate getting all your fall landscaping done before winter and begin planning for the spring.

Contact us at Campbell and Ferrara if you’re ready to learn how you can maximize your landscape. Call us today at 703-705-7892 or fill out our contact form.

Campbell and Ferrara provides landscape design/build services and a retail garden center for homeowners living in Alexandria, Annandale, Arlington, Fairfax, Falls Church, Mount Vernon, and Springfield, Virginia.