Is Your Yard Ready For Snow?!

 
 

Along the Front Range, winter is on our doorstep with snow forecast for Monday into Tuesday.  But there’s still a nice weekend ahead to enjoy being outside while catching up on a few remaining landscape chores.

Snow on top of leaves is a mess
Wet leaves take time to dry out, become heavy and even slimy.  It will save you time and trouble in the long run if your yard is covered (again!) with leaves, to deal with them before it snows.  For leaves on the lawn, a smart move is to mulch them with a mulching lawn mower.  The fragments left behind are good nutrition for the lawn.

In bed areas, you’ll also be ahead of the game by raking most of the leaves out.  Work especially at cleaning out ground cover.

When it snows this time of year
Storm damage is more likely to occur on trees that haven’t yet dropped all their leaves.  The snow mounts on them, weighs down the branches and they can break.  Many trees – particularly pear, crab apple and honeylocust – which still have a lot of leaves are in this susceptible category. 

If you see snow accumulating and you can reach branches on smaller trees, use a broom handle to gently shake limbs so snow falls off.  Start on the lowest branches.  Otherwise, snow falling from higher onto lower branches just adds to their snow load that leads to breakage.

Don’t forget evergreens.  Even though they stand tall winter after winter, in very heavy snows, their branches can also break.  Keep an eye on them during heavy snows and shake their branches as well.

Prune to prevent more storm damage and decay
High winds have already broken limbs in many areas this fall.  It’s always best to have broken, ripped limbs pruned back with a clean cut.  Otherwise, torn limbs can invite pests and disease.  This is one time when having an arborist, who really knows trees, do the work pays off for the long term. 

Also be aware of “hangers” – limbs that may be damaged but are still “hanging by a thread.”  They could fall at any time to damage property or injure people.  Look up and play it safe.

What not to prune
Shrubs that flower early in the spring have already set the buds that will become pretty flowers.   Avoid pruning lilac, dogwood, forsythia, viburnum and spirea in the fall as you will see fewer flowers next spring.

Remember the sprinkler system
If you have not yet winterized the sprinkler system, don’t delay.  Freezing temps are ahead!

This entry was posted in Lawn & Garden Care, Designscapes News