The road to a beautiful yard that is free from weeds, appealing to the eye and functioning properly takes more than the occasional mowing during the cutting season. Fall is here and its time to do some final housekeeping in regards to your lawn, the sprinkler system, and the yard in general.
At this time of year, as prescribed in the Busy Bee Lawn Care Annual Grass Fertilization Service and Weed Control Program, you might want to consider applying a granular pre-emergent to your lawn and flower beds. A preemergent application in the fall is a step you can take to minimize the amount of winter weeds you would have otherwise. Its often those few weeds among your dormant grass that are not only unsightly, but also costly...if you didn't have these few weeds, you could probably put your mower away completely for the entire winter or if you pay for lawn mowing service, you can give your wallet a break for a few months. You should also cut down on watering, which contributes to weed growth in the winter when the base lawn is not able to crowd out the unwanted weeds.
Speaking of watering, late fall is the best time to winterize your (Rain Bird, Toro, Hunter, Orbit, etc) sprinkler system. This procedure should be carefully done by a professional sprinkler repair service. The purpose of sprinkler system winterization is to prevent the plastic pvc pipes, fittings, and valves from freezing in the winter by evacuating the water from the system. A hard freeze, which has become more prevalent here in Columbia and Lexington South Carolina can severely damage your irrigation which can be costly and time consuming (not to mention detrimental to a well watered lawn if left unrepaired for a length of time).
Another general item that should be included in your fall yard routine is leaf cleanup or "fall cleanup". The task at hand is to remove as much pine straw, cones, sticks, gumballs, and leaves as you can. Mulching these items and hoping that they turn into good topsoil has been proven through my many years of experience to be a bad plan. Most of the time where people have either left the leaves and debris on the turf for too long or, with the best of intentions, "mulched" the debris there are bare spots, disease, fungus and mold where the debris was left. Although some people advocate mulching debris in the fall (especially leaves), I have found it to be bad for the lawn. In my opinion, the best protocol is to blow the leaves into a pile, tarp them and drag them to your dumping spot; removing the debris from the lawn altogether. If your mower sucks up the debris well enough in "bag" mode without leaving too many chopped up pieces behind, then that's a fine tact as well.
In regards to a comprehensive lawn care routine, several preventative steps can be taken to maximize beauty and even save you money in the long run. Taking care to remove leaves and debris from among your lawn can save you from having to buy new sod in the spring. Proper irrigation winterization and backflow control valve testing can save you the expense and headache of a leaking system. A proper application of pre-emergent in the fall can save you from having to mow through the winter. So happy gardening, and if you don't have the time to do these things on your own, we're standing by to help as usual at Busy Bee Lawn Care, Columbia - (803)331-5323
