Fall Yard Maintenance in the Sierras

There’s a nip in the air, the leaves are on the precipice of change and wood smoke can be seen in the mornings. Fall is officially upon us for better or for worse. For some of you this may be a welcome change and for others a reminder of a season gone by too quickly. For me, I love fall but I am never ready to say goodbye to summer. For those of you who are not in Tahoe full-time you may not realize that the cool mornings have arrived. There is hopefully plenty of time to enjoy the fall and get things buttoned up before the snow falls. There is plenty to do to get your home ready in the mean time which brings us to these End of Summer/Early Fall Yard Work Tips.

Dead Heading & Cutting Back

My mom dead-heads through the summer.  I do not.  For those of you who don’t know what dead heading is, it is simply cutting off the dead flowers off the green parts. Sometimes it can produce a second bloom and if it doesn’t then it just makes your garden look tidier. I stare at my dead flower heads thinking I should dead-head and then all the summer activities that I’d rather be doing start calling to me and I just continue to stare at the dead flowers. Maybe once my babies are a little older and I have a little more time in my life I might be able to change that habit. Until then I often just cut everything back in one fellow swoop instead. If you have time still in the season to enjoy your garden you can definitely still dead-head and do the full cutting back later. If not then just go for the full cut-back of leafy (not woody) perennials. For those of you just starting gardening, I cut mine all the way down, leaving about 1-2 inches of greens. For woody plants you can start trimming as well. This makes shrubs grow fuller rather than leggy. If you’ve neglected trimming in the past and shrubs are starting to look leggy go for it and cut the shrubs way back. You’ll be surprised at how healthy and full you can make them by doing so!

Biosol!

I’m not a huge fertilizer in general. Mostly it is due to time (sigh!). Biosol is kind of my savior in that regard. It is a natural fertilizer that is slow to break down so you just do it in the spring and again in the fall. It does wonders!  So go pick up a large bag so that when spring comes around you have plenty to throw on there as well. Sprinkle it on everything, all around the base and out as far as branches go out on shrubs. Your plants will thank you.

Tying up Trees/Shrubs

You don’t need to do this quite yet but it’s a good time to start thinking about it. For those of you who are new home-owners in Tahoe you would never have thought to do this. Get some “tape” while you are at the nursery purchasing your Biosol. I say “tape” because it is not sticky. It’s  1/2″ to 1″ thick plastic wrapping tape that comes in green or brown. I prefer brown because it blends in more when plants are wrapped. What do you want to wrap? All those woody shrubs that you didn’t cut back all the way. Also it is not a bad idea to wrap younger trees with not super sturdy branches. The snow load can do a number on trees on shrubs and wrapping them helps to protect the integrity of the shape and the health of your plants. Start at the base and work your way up. You don’t have to go crazy tight but enough so the branches are pulled in and up quite a bit.

Bulbs

Fall is the time to plant bulbs! Get yourself set up for some strategically placed early pops of color. Sunnier spots will produce flowers earlier. I love seeing a bunch of bulbs in a few strategic spots as opposed to a sprinkling here and a sprinkling there.

New Plantings

Fall is a great time to either split perennials that have gotten a bit large or to add new plants to your beds. I prefer it over spring time because they can really get nicely established during the dormant period and you have a wonderful surprise in the spring. That being said don’t forget they still need plenty of water in the early stages of getting established even though the weather is cooler. I have definitely lost my fair share of new plants come spring-time from the lack of this. Fall is also a great time to buy plants because you can often times find them on sale!!! It’s a great time to get some of the pricier shrubs and trees you’ve been wanting to add.

Hoses

Since the mornings are cold it’s a good time to detach hoses from the hose bibs, especially if you are not here full-time. Ours have been freezing in the morning so it is possible to cause some damage if you don’t have an anti-freeze hose bib. You can leave them out for now because you may still need them. Eventually it’s good to coil them up, maybe secure them with a zip-tie and store them covered somewhere.

Pine-Needles & Leaves

You’ve still got some time to go before this is essential but it’s good to be prepared. In Truckee we now have green-waste bins so if you haven’t received yours make sure you do. The rest of you using green-bags still, stock up now so you don’t run out once you’ve gotten yourself motivated. Get yourself a good pair of gloves to protect against blisters from the rake handle. It’s definitely easier to get them up in the fall while they are still nice and dry rather and have fewer to deal with in the spring when they are soggy, browned and disintegrating.

Winter will be here soon enough so get outside, do some work and enjoy the fall air while it is here!