Fall always seems to come too soon for Calgary residents as it heralds the end of the long summer days and the quick switch over to the cold winter months. However, the sun still shines for most of the season even though the temperatures drop off, making it the perfect time to undertake some serious landscaping for your Calgary property.
Understanding Calgary’s Fall Climate
To get a better handle on the landscaping tasks that you should be undertaking during fall around your Calgary property, you need to fully understand the climate that happens in the city during this time. Firstly, fall is a short and crisp season, which means that you have to work relatively quickly before the soil becomes unworkable due to the cold. Secondly, temperatures do fluctuate between hot days and frosty mornings and you need to do all of your landscaping before the first frost hits. Finally, the dry air and low humidity that comes with the season means that plant health is often a risk factor, so you need to winter proof your more delicate green babies sooner rather than later.
Start With A Fall Clean Up
Your first step in landscaping your Calgary property in the fall is to perform a full fall clean up. This basically means get rid of any organic matter that has gathered around your property to prevent mold and pests from developing over the winter months. Start by raking (or blowing) all the leaves from your yard. Unless you’re going to chop them or mow them into smaller pieces, leaves will clog up your soil and make it hard for water to enter when the snow starts to melt. Next, remove any branches that have fallen as these offer safe harbour for pests and critters that you really don’t want taking up residency in your yard. Lastly, get on your ladder to clean out your gutters and drainage areas. Not only will this stop mould from growing, but it will also make it easier for snow and ice to melt away without damaging your home.
Prepare Your Soil
Next up, you need to look after the soil around your garden beds. Here are some simple landscaping tips to protect your garden beds from the worst of winter and to ensure a vigorous growing season in the spring:
- Water deeply – winter in Calgary can be brutal for the plants in your garden as the soil freezes quickly and there’s not a lot of rainfall in the fall to keep them hydrate. A good landscaping tip is to water deeply during the fall season to make sure the water has enough time to seep down to the deepest roots before it freezes. Once the snow melt happens, your plants will be able to absorb the water straight away.
- Add organic matter – your plants need as many nutrients as possible to build up strength for their hibernation. You can add synthetic fertilisers for a quick feed, but adding layers of organic matter such as compost from your garden or manure is a longer term solution to building soil health. Organic matter comes with microbes who work to break down more complex material into plant friendly nutrients, and these microbes will get to work as soon as the warmer weather comes back in spring.
- Mulch or cover crops – finally, you don’t want to leave bare soil exposed over the winter months. This is because it will damage your microbes as well as dehydrating the soil due to water evaporation and seepage. A quick fix here is to add a layer of mulch (wood chips are fine, but look out for enriched mulch options), but a longer term solution is to plant cover crops like vetch, ryegrass or clover to protect your plants and enrich the soil at the same time.
Fall Lawn Care
Fall is the perfect time to work on your Calgary lawn because all the damage of your summer entertaining and playing will be done, but the grass hasn’t yet started to prepare for winter so you can impact its overall health and get ready for spring. Start by aerating your lawn with a shallow rake. This helps to break up compacted areas of dirt to improve water and nutrient absorption. Don’t go too deep as you don’t want to break up the root system. Next, find fall-specific fertiliser and spread it across all areas of your lawn to help build strong and healthy roots which will turn into lush green grass in the spring. Finally, when you’re mowing, keep the grass short and be sure to clear up excess grass clippings to avoid thatching, which will block essential sunlight and water from getting to your grass plants.
Work With The Experts
If you’re looking at this list of fall landscaping tasks for your Calgary property and worrying about how you’ll find time to do all that as youth sports season and school kicks back into gear, you’re not alone. Fortunately, help is at hand, and here at Scoop Cut N Shovel we have a team of landscaping experts who will work with you to make sure your property is ready for winter, and for a hearty growing season in spring. We will come and do everything from a simple one off fall clean up to a full landscaping project where we collaborate with you to take on the tasks that you don’t want to do.
Bundle To Save More
Scoop Cut N Shovel offers more than just fall landscaping services, and you can save even more time and money when you add in our other subscription packages. We can do every part of your year round property maintenance, from snow and ice removal on your driveway and sidewalks to pet waste cleanup and lawn care during the summer months. Our best value offer comes when you invest in our full year round property maintenance package meaning that your property looks beautiful in all seasons and you’re able to relax and enjoy your space year round.