Fall Cleanup Made Easy: Tips for Maintaining Your Landscape

With the fall season officially here, we’re glad to see cooler temperatures, but this is also one of our busier times of the year. Many homeowners in Rock Hill and the surrounding area call us during the fall months to have hardscaping put in, and we also start working on planting, mulching, edging, and other landscaping work during the fall to prepare for the upcoming year.

To help you get a headstart on making and keeping your outdoor living spaces looking their best this fall, we’ve put together this helpful list of landscape maintenance tasks. Whether you choose DIY or partner with our expert landscapers in Rock Hill, SC, take a look over this list and keep it handy while working outside or when planning your next landscaping project with Ground FX Landscaping and Water Features:

Cleaning before working on your landscaping is essential for safety and efficiency

1. Start with a Thorough Clean-Up

Before we begin any fall landscaping services in Rock Hill, we always survey our work areas to get things cleaned up. After all, there's not much point in beautifying your landscaping if you have remnants of summer left over. If you’re going to DIY some landscaping, take a look around for debris, grass clippings, twigs, and branches that came down during our recent brush with Hurricane Idalia, and any dead or dying plants.

This is also a great time to take inventory of your yard tools and any items like children’s toys, pool equipment, and anything else you plan to put up for the winter.

We always want our work areas clean and tidy before beginning a project because of safety and efficiency. We never want you to have to worry about taking care of these things, so our landscapers always take care of the hard work while you relax.

Pruning and clearing away growth from the summer gets fall landscaping off to a great start

2. Trim and Prune Excess Growth

We also recommend trimming and pruning excess growth during the fall. Plants and shrubs that bloom all year need special attention, but we also want to trim down plants and shrubs that have slower growth during the fall and winter.

Trimming excess growth now keeps plants looking good over the fall season, and growth that slows will usually come to a standstill in the areas where trimming takes place.

This step also helps our team get a better sense of how your yard will look when your landscaping, hardscaping, and water features are installed. When we can accurately visualize your project, we can give you a better idea of what the final outcome will look like.

Caring for your lawn as fall sets in can help it bounce back in the spring

3. Lawn Care

Although we don’t take care of traditional lawn care at Ground FX Landscaping & Water Features, we do recommend giving your grass a few cuttings during the early fall months and then once more before winter. Keeping up with lawn care not only helps your lawn to look good but also promotes strong, healthy growth in the spring. Cutting your grass shorter than usual during the fall also protects it during its winter hibernation cycle.

Aeration, fertilizer, and overseeding are also good ideas during this time. These promote healthy root development during the fall so your blades will come up green and lush come springtime.

Proper mulching can leave plants looking great and growing well over the fall

4. Add and Maintain Mulching

Mulching during the fall season in Rock Hill, SC, is a fantastic idea that we highly encourage. Mulch acts like the insulation in your home in that it adds a protective barrier against the cold and the elements. Mulching protects soil and roots while holding in vital nutrients for trees and plants.

Ground FX Landscaping & Water Features can take care of all of your mulching and planting during the colder months, and we customize our mulching services based on the needs of each client’s outdoor space. Using quality mulch is imperative here, and it’s good to know that our trained landscaping experts know exactly how to care for trees, shrubs, flower beds, water gardens, and more to put down the right amount of product.

As much focus needs to be spent on your water features during the fall as during the summer

5. Focus on Water Features

Because our team specializes in outdoor water features like koi ponds and fountains, you’ve probably guessed we have tips for preparing your water features for fall. We ensure our customers’ ponds, fountains, and waterfalls are cleaned out properly for the fall season, and we also check all electrical equipment like pumps and landscape lighting.

In our experience, this cleaning process can be an ongoing one during the fall depending on the surrounding trees. To remedy this and make it easier to keep leaves and debris out of your water features, we can recommend products like covers and nets to protect your water features as the weather gets colder. If you plan to continue using your water features during the fall, we can give tips and guidance to help you protect them over the fall and winter so that you don’t experience damage or loss come springtime.

Make sure you think about your planting schedule as fall sets in

6. Plan for Seasonal Planting

While fall is often associated with the shedding of leaves and a decline in plant growth, it's also an ideal time for planting certain types of trees, shrubs, and bulbs. We can recommend a variety of native species that thrive in the Rock Hill area and take care of planting for you. This will not only enhance the beauty of your outdoor space but also support local wildlife.

We’ve recently written about seasonal trees to plant in Rock Hill, SC, so be sure to check over our list, but we always provide customized recommendations. Your outdoor living spaces are unique to your vision, and we work hard to bring that to life all year long!

Without proper planning and management, frost can be a real problem for your plants in the fall

7. Plan Ahead for Frost

Our landscaping company was founded in Pennsylvania, but since we’ve moved our headquarters to the Rock Hill region, we’ve enjoyed much warmer temperatures. Unfortunately, frost is still a very real thing down here in Rock Hill, and it can even come early during the fall months. This is why we always recommend prepping early for frost to protect plants.

In general, consider how hardy your plants are before frost arrives. Some plants are able to stand up to frost better than others, and these may require less care. You may need to trim back certain plants so their root systems remain intact, but others may require covering. In situations where nothing can be done, we may recommend digging up plants and preparing the soil for next season.

Let a professional inspect and repair paver patios and other hardscaping before the really cold weather arrives

8. Maintain Your Hardscape Features

We also specialize in hardscaping in Rock Hill SC, and each year, we speak with customers who want to know the best ways to prepare their hardscaping features, including walkways, driveways, and retaining walls, for the fall weather. We encourage a thorough inspection of existing hardscaping during the fall so that any damage can be addressed before the really cold temperatures get here in Rock Hill.

If repairs or adjustments need to be made, we can take care of those, but our team can also amend existing paver patios and other hardscaping to help your landscaping look its best over the fall. We also specialize in sealing and poly sanding to help extend the lifespan of hardscaping, so if you’re concerned about cracks or gaps, now is the time to have a professional inspect your hardscaping.

Fall is a great time to think about adding or changing out your landscape lighting

9. Lighting Enhancements

We recently wrote about using landscape lighting during the fall in Rock Hill, and in that article, we talk at length about the various ways you can use lighting during the fall months to enhance your landscaping. We encourage our customers to use landscape lighting for beauty and security, and the fall season is a great time to play with lighting temperatures and various hues to accent the colors of the season.

Contact Ground FX Landscaping & Water Features in Rock Hill SC for Help Preparing for Fall

Although cleaning and preparing your outdoor spaces for fall is vital, it doesn’t have to take away from more important things in your life. You can always rely on our experienced experts for landscaping, hardscaping, and water features in the Rock Hill, SC, region.

If you want to have true professionals make your outdoor living spaces shine this fall, contact Ground FX Landscaping & Water Features today by calling (803) 371-2324, or click to use our contact form to schedule service online.