Fall Yard Clean Up

I love the fall.  By the time September comes, I am tired of summer (which is hard to believe) and ready for a change.  The new colors, the smells, I find it all inspiring and invigorating.

However, there is a part of the fall that I don't find to be so inspiring..... fall yard clean up.  All of my flowers are done at this point and while the color in the yard is beautiful from the fall leaves, it is also a lot of work.  Here is a quick list of what I try to complete in the yard before the ground freezes for the winter.

1.  Empty out flower pots:  I dump the majority of my flower pots out into the compost pile.  Actually just the flowers go into the compost, the soil I keep in a large trash can so that I can reuse it the following year.  I stack my flower pots in the garage, putting a few newspaper pieces in between any of my ceramic pots so that they don't crack.

I do keep a few perennials in my pots over the winter, most of these are trailers like creeping jenny.  I take these pots and move them up against the house for the winter months, trying to shield them from some of the winter weather.  Surprising to me after the first winter of doing this, my creeping jenny has always made it through the winter like this and served as a great foundation plant in many pots each spring as I continue to divide it and spread it around. 

2.  Rake out flower beds:  This job stinks, no other way to put it. I live on a heavily wooded lot which means lots and lots of raking.  However, I just don't have the patience to rake everything in the fall and have perfect flower beds all winter long.  I focus on the front yard, rake what I can and sometimes purposefully leave a little bit of the leaf cover behind to serve as "insulation" for my plants and also as organic matter.  In the spring, I'll get back out there and thoroughly rake, but after a long winter, this is a welcomed job. 

3. Yard Rejuvenation:  Very late summer and early Fall is a great time to plant grass, but since we are past that point this year, its just time to keep the leaves off the grass so that it can breath through the winter and also be ready to spring back into action in the coming months.  I also like to use a winterizer on our grass in mid-November.  I feel like this just gives the grass a little bit of pick me up come early spring.  In reality, it does strengthen the roots, keeps your grass a little greener a little longer as winter sets in, and bring on the bright green spring grass a little earlier.  All things that matter for me!

4.  Shrubbery/Tree trimming:  Before it gets too cold, you can still trim your shrubs.  I have a few burning bushes out front that need to be trimmed each fall right before the winter sets in or else they drive me completely crazy as I look outside in the cold months and see these few random spikes sticking up. Since we are now in late fall, just keep your trimming to what is really needed; wait for the spring to do a major overhaul on any bushes or trees.

5.  Clean Up the Perennial Beds:  This is actually really easy.  I usually let my perennials like Black Eyed Susans and Cone Flowers go for awhile as the flowers die, thinking that the birds appreciate the seeds from these plants.  I don't cut these back until early December, if at all, some years I just don't get to this and its not a big deal.  Its easy to cut these back again in the spring before the new growth starts up. 

6. Annual Flower Clean up:  Another easy job is getting rid of all those Annuals in the ground.  I really don't have too many of these any more and try to put as many perennials in the ground as possible and just keep annuals in pots, but I do have a few.  At this point of the year, they easily pull right out of the ground and go to the compost.  Rake the area a little bit and it is ready for winter.

7. Mulch: Some area of your yard may need a little bit of extra cover for the winter.  More delicate plants and young trees will appreciate the extra blanket of warmth!

Each year is different and the weather and time dictate a great deal to what actually gets done in our yard before winter and what waits until spring. Don't stress about and focus on what keeps your plants healthy and happy through the winter months!