Over the last couple of years, many of us have spent more time than ever in our yards. When you were giving thanks last week, we hope that you spent a moment appreciating all that your landscape does for you. Our outdoor spaces can give us: Better health. Gardening is a great method of exercise. It’s also good for you mental health, helping boost your mood by interacting with nature. Better environment. Plants clean the air and provide oxygen. They cool our homes…
It takes a little effort to help your landscape ease into the fall and winter. Hopefully you’ve already winterized your irrigation system or scheduled your sprinkler blowout. If not, take a minute today to get it done or get on a professional’s calendar before they book up. Then, turn your focus to preparing trees for winter. Ideally, you should try to prune your trees when they have gone dormant. Pruning shade trees helps them better handle the snowfall and strong winds of…
If you took a cue from last week’s tip and mulched your leaves, you might have some extra leaf mulch in your yard. Or maybe you cleaned up your garden and have some plant material left over. You can turn those piles of yard waste into “black gold” by composting them for use next spring. Combine those leaves with other organic waste from your home to build a compost pile that is a well-balanced mix of browns and greens: Browns…
Don’t hurt your back bagging leaves. There’s a better way—you might even be able to avoid raking altogether. But you can’t simply leave everything as it is or you risk suffocating your lawn by leaving it under a layer of leaves. Try mulching; it’s good for your landscape and easier on you. When the leaves have fallen and are dry—don’t mow wet leaves—try mowing your lawn without the grass catcher. If you’ve got a mulch setting on your mower, make sure…
Imagine yourself relaxing on the terrace with a mug of tea or apple cider as you enjoy the cooler nights of autumn in Colorado. But fumbling in the dark with a mug of hot liquid is not a good idea. And candles or torches can be a hazard in our fire-prone state. Despite continuing warm temperatures, shorter days can limit the time we spend outdoors this fall. One way to extend the time outdoors is with landscape lighting. It’s an investment…
It’s a good time to put in some work to help your landscape stay healthy as it heads into dormancy for the winter. It’s still warm, but autumn begins next week and we look forward to cooler days ahead. A little care now will help make your lawn hardier so that it will return next spring as vibrant as ever. Here are some steps to consider. Be sure to talk with us about which of these steps are important for your…
Last week we talked about planting now for next spring. If you want some seasonal color now, try a fall-themed container garden. You can make your own decorative creation with traditional containers: a ceramic planter, a window box, or a hanging pot. Or get creative and upcycle things you’ve got in the garage, like an old wheelbarrow, metal bucket or tire. You can even repurpose a football or football helmet into an interesting centerpiece for your outdoor table. Before you…
Want your harvest to continue into the fall? Start some leafy greens, herbs, broccoli and root crops now. These plants aren’t made for the long and intensely hot days of summer. Late-summer, with cooling night-time temps and shorter days with less sunshine, offers the right conditions. A note on root crops such as beets, carrots and radishesSince root crops take time to develop, read the seed packets and look for varieties that mature in 60 days or less. Root crops can…
The general rule of thumb has been to wrap young trees in late November and remove the wrapping in April. But here in Colorado we know that weather patterns don’t read calendars. Freeze can, and recently did, occur early in the fall. But don’t despair if your tree got caught without a “blanket” in October. If you planted a new tree this fall or have a young tree in your landscape, it’s not too late to wrap it. Despite the…
What if we told you that you can actually improve your landscape by not bagging your leaves for trash pickup? Instead, you can mulch your leaves and leave them on the lawn. Mulched leaves will bio-degrade, providing nutrients to the grass roots, micro-organisms, and worms in your landscape. They also help regulate the soil temperature when it gets cold, retain moisture in soil on dry days, and can reduce weed propagation next year. But you can’t simply let leaves sit…
