Fall has come, and your landscape might not be the first thing on your mind. Have you have invested a lot of time, energy, and money in your residential landscape design? You will want to take a look at these tips and advice to help your landscape look great year round.
Watering and Sprinkler System Maintenance
Quick Drain Your System
Keep an eye on your sprinkler system and the overnight lows
As fall sets in, it’s important to keep an eye on the weather. If any night has a low temperature that dips below freezing, you will need to quick drain your system. You can learn more about quick draining your system and find helpful diagrams by clicking here.
Don’t forget about your system after the first freeze though, as there are still going to be warmer nights when you can take advantage of your system a little bit longer.
Schedule a Sprinkler Blowout
You’ll need to schedule a sprinkler blow out as well. This will protect your buried sprinkler lines from freezing. It’s always a good idea to get scheduled for your blow out a bit ahead of time. You can also ask whoever is doing your sprinkler blowout when they recommend having your system blown out, and have them add you to their list.
Sprinkler companies usually like to start with places like Black Forest, Woodland Park, and Monument, where it tends to get colder sooner, and leave Colorado Springs until a bit later in the fall.
Winter Watering in the Colorado Springs Region
Once your system is blown out, you’ll need to winter water by hand. Most of the plant loss we see is from lack of winter water. So anytime it has been dry and the temperatures are in the fifties, drag out the hose and give your lawn and landscape some much needed moisture. You will see the difference in the spring!
The color changes of fall provide a beautiful change in landscapes, but also signal clean-up is around the corner.
Prune back your perennials
Pruning back your perennials in the fall will help to keep your landscape looking its best. You can cut back your perennials to six inches above the ground. Ornamental grasses can provide some nice winter interest, so save them for spring pruning.
Clean it up
Raking through your landscape and cleaning up all the leaves and sticks will help your landscape look tidy all winter. There may still be a few leaves left in the trees, but you’ll probably need to rake your landscape again come spring, but there will be a lot less.
Giving your lawn a final mow will also help to keep everything looking clean and neat. In addition, the fallen leaves can provide a place for pests to overwinter, and mowing your lawn one setting lower will help manage the thatch layer.
Bonus Landscape Maintenance Tip
Don’t forget to disconnect your garden hose from the hose bib after every use. Leaving your hose connected to the hose bib in freezing temperatures can lead to burst pipes within your home! Be sure to drain the hose as well.
This fire pit provides a nice opportunity to enjoy a fall evening outdoors.
Things are winding down this time of year, and there is not as much to do with the landscape as there is in the spring and summer. By following these tips, you’ll have your landscape ready to bounce back strong once spring comes.
If your landscape has you feeling down once the leaves start falling, now is a great time to start planning ways to add more seasonal interest to your landscape. This can be as simple as planting a few more evergreens, ornamental grasses, and seasonal interest shrubs, to something more dramatic, like a fire pit that will let you enjoy the crisp fall evenings.