Fall is here, and with the change in seasons comes a change in the best practices for your lawn. Whether you are a commercial property owner, head of a homeowner’s association, municipal worker, or property management partner, it is essential to keep your lawn looking great year-round. Yet as the weather changes and the temperature drops, if you don’t take certain precautions, your property’s yard could be in bad shape a few months from now. Check out part one of our fall landscaping tips series here, and make sure to hire our Southern California commercial landscaping pros at Stay Green Inc. for effective and sustainable services.

5 Essential Tips for Fall Landscaping:

1. Collect Leaves the Smart Way: Although we may not get as much beautiful fall foliage here in Southern California as people do in other parts of the country, it is still essential to take care of your leaves properly. While conventional wisdom would suggest the best way to do this is with a leaf blower, you can actually kill two birds with one stone by using a lawnmower. By attaching the bag to your lawnmower, you will be able to collect leaf remnants, while also creating a great source of mulch for gardening.
2. Pull Up Remaining Weeds: It’s a good idea to pull up any remaining weeds and seeds on your property during autumn. If your property has crabgrass and dandelions growing on it, for instance, these weeds will only die and look ugly in your yard over winter.
3. Clean Vegetable Beds: You should get rid of vegetables, fruits, and other dirt and debris from your vegetable beds to prevent the spread of pests during fall. Critters may try to get into your vegetable beds to find shelter over the winter, spreading disease and causing a nuisance you certainly don’t want to deal with during the change in seasons.
4. Trim Certain Perennials: Trimming spent perennials such as peonies daylilies, irises, ferns, and plantain lilies is better to do at the start of fall rather than the end of it. By cutting down anything that has wilted or browned, you will save yourself a big hassle when it gets too cold out to garden.
5. Leave Certain Perennials: The term “perennial” is certainly confusing, isn’t it? While some of these supposed “ever-green” plants last from season to season, the ones above are all prone to disease in the colder months, and should therefore be trimmed. However, you can leave and maintain corals, lavender, ornamental grasses, astilbe, coneflower, black-eyed susan, hydrangea shrubs, clematis vine yarrow, and spirea shrubs over winter, as these perennials often do live up to their name.

For more information on fall landscaping tips, check back in with our blog, and contact Stay Green Inc. at (800) 741-9150 to schedule your next commercial landscaping service.