Fall Is Coming!
It’s September, the kids are back at school, the Patriots are back, so it’s time to forget about your lawn care with the exception of raking leaves in a couple weeks, right? Wrong. It’s not fall until September 22nd – we’re still in late summer and your yard still needs your attention.
Before the leaves fall and then the snow falls, you need to make sure your lawn and gardens are ready for the change in seasons and the months of being covered by snow. So what yardwork should you be doing now? Here are three we recommend for the late summer:
Cut Your Grass Short
Yes, you should still be mowing. The difference between mowing now, though, and mowing earlier in the summer is that you want to cut your grass shorter in preparation for the fall and winter. With shorter grass, you are helping it to stay healthy because shorter grass is less susceptible to fungus and other issues that can occur when the grass gets wet and cold. When the grass is short, it’s easier for it to dry it. Taller grass gets compacted more easily under snow, stays wet, and more easily plays host to fungus and mold. For a healthier, greener lawn in the spring, put your mower settings down by a couple and cut your grass low now.
Edging Gardens
This time of year, it’s easy to let your flower beds start looking a little messy. Your flowers are starting to go, and it’s Maine, so there will be frost and snow soon enough anyway, right? But both for your property’s aesthetics and your garden’s health, now is a good time to get edging done.
Edging just makes your yard look neater, and it’s always good to have tidy landscaping – especially if you might be putting your home on the market. Getting edging done now also makes it less of a major undertaking in the spring, when you are already faced with a laundry list of yard work to accomplish.
Perhaps most importantly, though, edging in the late summer means that you aren’t putting new growth at risk. Fragile roots can be disturbed by edging, and as plants are starting to blossom in the spring they are more likely to be damaged by edging. Now, though, there isn’t new growth, and your plants are either already gone by or preparing to settle in for the winter.
Trim Shrubs
If your shrubbery is looking a bit overgrown, now is the time to give them a trim. Don’t wait until late fall or until the frost hits – if you do, the trimmed branches won’t have time to harden off and will be damaged by the cold weather. Trimming shrubs now, in late summer, will give them time to harden off but not start new growth that will require yet another trim before winter. If you get this chore done now, it’s another item on your spring list that will either be non-existent or a bit easier than usual.
If you’d like some backup on these or any of the other many chores that maintaining a property in Maine requires each season, give AC Yard Services give us a call (207) 712-5554 or send us a message over email at . Our annual plans help keep your yard looking its best year-round!
