Memo To Self: Fall Landscaping To Dos
Summer is over—time to think landscaping again.
Ensure Proper Drainage
Proper drainage can minimize or eliminate potentially thousands of dollars of damage to your home. Damage ranges from water in your basement or window wells, rotting siding, or water standing on your lawn.Without proper slope away from your homemelting snow flows directly towards your house. The first 8" to 12" next to your foundation wall doesn’t freeze, so even in February water can find a way into your basement. Now is the time to correct this problem because it can’t be fixed in February. Slope your yard a minimum 10' away from your home.
Because of cooler temperatures, gentler rains, and minimal competition from weeds, fall is a great time to seed or re-seed parts of your lawn.
Thicken Your Lawn
Fall is the best time to seed because of the cooler temperatures, gentler rains, and minimal competition from weeds. Most lawn seeds will germinate when the soil and medium air temperature is above 48 degrees; you normally have until mid–October to achieve germination. Your germination rates increase when the daytime temperatures are in the 60’s and 70’s (they decrease in the 80’s and 90’s). Most weed seeds germinate when it is warmer and won’t germinate when it is cooler. The fall gentler rains won’t wash your seed away. Dew forming on your lawn during the cool fall mornings increases germination rates and provides young seedlings daily moisture.
If you have a shady lawn or weak lawn areas, November is an excellent time to over-seed your weak shady areas. Leaves can suffocate new seeding and raking can pull out new seedling. You can even over-seed on frozen ground. Snow will push the seed into the soil to achieve the important soil contact aspect of germination and when the temperatures warm up in April you will have a thicker lawn. The temperatures will need to go below minus 45 degrees to stop your seed from germinating in the spring. If you have a bumpy or uneven lawn, topdress your lawn prior to seeding. Apply straw or paper mulch over the new topsoil on sloped areas to minimize erosion.
