The Colorado Stoneworks Team
October in Colorado is one of my favorite months. The leaves are turning brilliant shades of yellow, orange and red; the evenings are cooler while the days typically are still sunny and warm and it’s the beginning of three of my favorite holiday months. It’s also time to do some yard maintenance before freezing temperatures and snow. Our friends at Colorado Stoneworks Landscaping LLC ( www.springslandscaping.com ) shared some great tips and suggestions on what to do this month to help ensure you have a beautiful and healthy lawn come spring.
This month is a good time for aeration, fall fertilizer treatments and shutting down and winterizing your sprinkler systems. Your sprinkler systems need to be winterized to prevent freeze damage…this should be done by Halloween, if not earlier, as fall in Colorado is unpredictable. One of the things I like about using Colorado Stoneworks Landscaping is that they call you each year to remind you to do this….I’ve had sprinkler systems freeze and bust in the past because I didn’t do this in a timely manner.
Anne Campbell (one of the owners) also suggests….
You can leave decorative grasses until spring as they add dimension to the landscape through the winter.- Most shrubs and evergreens can be pruned in the fall. (I like to make sure all our dead branches on trees have been trimmed so they don’t break with heavy snows.)
- The final mow of the lawn should be a little longer than usual. You don’t want to cut it short right before the winter.
- Also, getting the dead leaves off the lawn is important, so they don’t sit and decay on the lawn. It can kill areas.
- The most important thing to do for your lawn, trees and shrubs throughout the fall and winter is supplemental watering. You should water 2 to 4 times per month on days that are above 40 degrees. They recommend you water by midday so it has time to absorb before the temperature drops at night….a fall aeration will help with that.
If you’re looking for a great landscaping company, I totally recommend Colorado Stoneworks Landscaping! We have used them for years and have always had the best of service.
The company is owned by Jonathan and Ann Campbell and Tannan Orr. They are a full service residential and commercial landscaping company, voted Best Landscaping Company by readers of the Independent two years in a row. Services include property maintenance (regular mowing, general yard clean ups, sprinkler maintenance and repair, etc.), to full custom design/build landscaping (sod installation, retaining walls, fencing, flagstone patios, water features, sprinkler installation and more).
And the company is “going green”…..which includes-all paper used is 100% replanted, working to promote water efficiency in landscaping and irrigation systems, recycling any material wastes, and more. (They have an entire page dedicated to going green if you want to check it out.) The company is dedicated to providing professional, dependable service at a reasonable cost. They are fully licensed, insured and bonded. AND they are friendly and show up when they say they will!
Potted plants
A lot of my outdoor plants are kept in pots (so I can keep them out of the reach of deer). In the colder months I bring them indoors. Here’s a few tips to help keep them healthy (and alive).
- Choose areas in the house that have good light to set your plants in. To avoid shocking your plants with the reduced light, you can bring them indoors for a few hours each day until you bring them in for good (till spring).
- Take a close look at your plants to make sure they are free of insects. You can give the leaves a bit of wash with some soapy water to help get rid of them.
- And don’t over-water. Plants grow slower in the winter months due to lower light levels so just water when necessary.
By properly preparing your yard before the freezing temperatures and snow and doing a bit of maintenance work now….you’ll have better chances of having a great lawn come spring. And you’ll have healthy, happy plants to put back outdoors to enjoy all summer long.