It’s fall yard clean-up time for gardeners and homeowners with any kind of greenspace to take care of.
Whether homeowners plan to get down and dirty in the mud themselves this fall or hire a professional like Lowell Harder, a little advice is never bad.
Harder & Sons Exterior Maintenance Services Inc. provides all kinds of yard and garden construction and maintenance work from Bragg Creek to Cochrane to Calgary.
Harder said when it comes to planting trees and shrubs, September is a good time to do so, but that doesn’t mean you have to wait until fall. He follows a simple rule.
“We have such a short window in our growing season, so if it’s not snowing, then give ‘er,” he said.
He added fall is good for planting because the trees have gone into what’s called dormancy.
“There’s less shock to the system, then when it wakes up in the spring, the root ball has a better environment to get started,” he explained.
“The important thing is that it’s well watered-in.”
According to Harder, it’s a good idea to give everything (lawns, gardens, trees, shrubs) a good soaking this time of year.
Lawn aeration is usually done in the spring, but Harder suggests if there’s been a lot of foot traffic on the grass throughout the summer, the fall is just as good a time to get it done.
A shot of fall fertilizer is also good for the lawn, to replenish nutrients. That’s a step Harder said is especially recommended for yards in newer subdivisions like those around Cochrane, where developers have scraped off a lot of the topsoil.
“The soil gets really stripped down – there’s no dark soil base, so a good slow release fertilizer really helps the lawn get going in the spring,” he said.
Leaf removal will not only make the yard look better, but also help avoid problems like mildew.
Harder said when pruning trees and shrubs, look for sucker growth (new shoots sprouting from the trunk or sometimes higher up), and diseased and dead wood.
Futhermore, things like junipers should always be kept clean of dead branches and litter that gathers in the centre of the shrub.
Overgrown perennials that are out of space should be dug up and moved in the fall.
And flower and vegetable beds need special attention.
“Turn the soil over – that allows air and moisture to get back in,” Harder emphasized. “That soil gets compacted even from its own weight.”
Now is the time to get all the weeds and other unwanted organic material out as well.
Mulching can be done in the fall too, but Harder said some people might want to delay that application until spring if they want to preserve the colour of the fresh mulch.
The decision on how much of the perennial stems, leaves, and other plant material to remove in the fall depends on how much the gardener cares about discouraging small visitors.
“It will decompose and become fertilizer, so you don’t have to cut back all of it. But the critters like it too, so . . . some people don’t like mice,” he added.
He generally cuts back the larger perennials (a metre high or taller) because they will grow back. What to do with the smaller perennials, meanwhile, is a matter of choice and discussion.
“My wife and I argue about that all the time,” Harder said.
