The Outdoor Maintenance Tasks To Add To Your List For Autumn & Winter
This is a collaborative post.
Autumn/winter doesn’t just bring about new fashion trends and lots of pumpkin spice; it also signifies changes to your outdoor maintenance routine. You’ve just had a full spring and summer tending to your garden and keeping everything nice and fresh. During those months, it’s more about watering your plants, preventing weed growth, and just ensuring your entire outdoor area doesn’t dry out too much.
In the autumn and winter months, things take a different turn. It’s less about actually tending to your garden and more about making a few preventative steps to keep your garden in the ideal condition across the colder parts of the year. You also slip in a few preparation steps so everything is primed and ready for the spring.
On that note, it’s about time you start creating your outdoor maintenance checklist for this period. Take a look at the tasks below and you’ll quickly know how to look after your outdoor spaces.
Fallen Leaves Clearance
Fallen leaves are the first sign of autumnal weather, and as nice as they look, they’re a pain in the backside from a maintenance standpoint. You end up with leaves in your gutters and downspouts, as well as so many loose ones scattered around your garden area.
Both cause problems for different reasons:
- Leaves can clog up gutters and prevent drainage when it rains, meaning you may end up with leaks or roof damage.
- Leaves get wet on the floor and create a slip hazard for everyone in your home.
- Fallen leaves can cover your lawn and deprive it of any sunlight during the day, meaning it might starve over autumn/winter.
So, fallen leaves equal bad times for your outdoor space. Get into the habit of clearing them away as often as you can. This might involve raking your lawn or using a leaf blower/vacuum to help with fallen leaves on the floor.
For gutter leaves, you might need to call in extra help just to be on the safe side of things. Then, use some type of gutter protection gizmo to stop leaves from falling and collecting in the gutters again.
Snow & Ice Prevention
It may not seem like it when you’re at the end of summer and the weather is still reasonably mild, but it’ll eventually get very cold. Temperatures will dip into minus figures over the winter period, which means there’s always the risk of snow and ice.
Both can be big hazards, though you can take steps now to prevent any problems.
While you can’t control the weather, you can equip yourself with all the tools necessary for some snow & ice maintenance. Everyone needs at least one snow shovel, combined with bags of salt or grit. The latter can be laid down on your driveway and walking pathways overnight when you know it’s going to be cold. This will prevent the ice from setting and provide a grippy surface to walk on.
Your shovel is there just in case it snows. It’s always good to have one handy so you can shovel a path around your house. That way you won’t be trapped in – or maybe you can forget the shovel if you want to snag an extra day off work!
The Last Lawn Fertilisation
Autumn is the last time you’ll need to fertilise your lawn before spring. The good news is you only need to do this once – the bad news is that it’s a very important maintenance step. So, you have to take this seriously if you want your lawn to stay in excellent condition and survive the harsh winter.
The autumn fertilisation process follows two very simple steps:
- Aerate your lawn to improve air circulation. This helps the fertiliser get down into the roots when you apply it.
- Apply a fertiliser that’s designed for autumn and winter. This is the most important step. Autumn/winter fertilisers are made to strengthen your grass and get it ready to withstand colder conditions. Slapping a spring/summer fertiliser won’t do anything.
Time For Some Pruning
Your plants and trees have had a long summer filled with loads of action. Now’s the time of year when they start to dwindle and die. If you planted summer flowers, then you’ll witness them shrivel up and pass on. However, many of your trees and plants will stay alive; it’s just that parts of them tend to die.
When leaves fall from plants, the ends of the branches die a bit too. This calls for some active pruning so you can chop away any dead or brittle parts of the plants in your outdoor space. At the same time, chop and dig up any dead flowers – feel free to plant some winter ones instead.
Pruning keeps your garden looking nice and prevents cases when brittle branches snap off in a gust of wind, causing unknown damage to your property.
Drain Your Watering Systems
What did you use to water your garden throughout spring/summer? If you used a watering can that you filled up straight from a tap, then ignore this step.
However, if you used a garden hose or a sprinkler system, then you need to drain them when the autumn weather hits. There’s no need to water your garden during these months because the weather does it for you. Instead, draining your hose or sprinkler systems will prevent any water from freezing inside them.
It may not seem like a problem, but frozen water expands inside a hose or sprinkler and can cause irreparable damage. You’ll save yourself a lot of bother by draining everything thoroughly before the cold weather comes.
You might look at this list and think, “Oh great, another five tasks to add to my outdoor maintenance routine.” Yes, there are additional things to do in autumn/winter, but the flipside is that you remove a lot of your spring/summer maintenance tasks. You won’t need to mow your lawn, de-weeding won’t be a constant point of attention, you don’t have to keep fertilising your lawn, etc. All in all, you have less to do during the colder part of the year – these tasks help you keep your outdoor space in a better state so you don’t have a boatload to deal with next spring.
