Weekend Projects - October 2020
October is a great month to check off your fall home maintenance tasks. Fall is definitely here and you likely have a lot of weekend projects you’re trying to get done before peak holiday season begins. With Thanksgiving in the rear-view mirror, this is a time to finish up outdoor projects before snow or inclement weather begins.
Best Face Forward
While you may be thinking that landscaping only pertains to living plants and ground cover around your outdoor home, your exterior paint colour of your home plays a big role in the overall look of your exterior. The fall is the perfect time to opt for a new paint job, or retouching chipping paint and repairing siding before painting can make your landscaping show in the best light. Exterior house colour can perk up any landscaping, especially in the fall.
Don’t Forget Your Hardscaping
Landscaping can be broken into two smaller categories – soft and hard. Soft landscaping is that which is live and has texture and can be planted. While hardscaping refers to sidewalks, driveways, rocks, mulch, and pavers placed around your home for safety, function, and beauty. Keep your driveways clean by power washing throughout the fall months and into the winter months.
Fall Means Fertilizer
Just because your fall lawn isn’t growing at the same rapid growth as the summer months, your lawn still needs upkeep such as cutting and fertilizing. Look to your local nursery or home improvement garden center for local growing guides based on your climate and demographics. A fall lawn that is fertilized on a fall seasonal routine will help from getting damaged during the colder winter months ahead. Ensure your lawn is kept cut and fertilized during the fall months.
Raking Is Not An Option
If you live in a home that has many mature and older trees in the neighborhood, you may get caught up in the nostalgia of falling autumn leaves, but they can also be dangerous if not raked regularly. Excess fallen leaves can hide sidewalks or walkways that are in disrepair, and can get wet and becomes slippery underfoot for pedestrians. Rake leaves weekly during the fall months to avoid possible accidents.
Planter Boxes for Added Texture
Window or planter boxes are a great way to add texture to your outdoor home and to add colour to the vast majority of colour to your siding, brick, or exterior coloured surface. Planter boxes are perfect for homes that don’t have a lot of frontage but still want to add greenery to your home’s façade.
Be a Good Neighbour
Don’t neglect your neighbor’s views and safety in the care of your outdoor home. Remember to keep your shared sidewalks raked free of leaves and ensure overlying tree branches are kept trimmed and safe away from power lines for fall and winter rain and snow storm damage. Keep your driveway and walkway free of fallen leaves this fall.
Tools of the Trade
Every fall your yard and gardening tools get put away in your garden shed or garage and are forgotten about until the spring. Before you let them “hibernate” during the cooler months, ensure they are all working, cleaned off from dirt and debris, and stored correctly. Don’t let soil, moisture or other debris make your tools unusable in the upcoming seasons.
Spring Set-Up
The fall is the best time to start thinking about colourful flowers sprouting in the spring. Check with your local nursery on what flowering bulbs are best to plant now while the soil is still soft before winter’s frost. You will love how your fall planting now will lead to a gorgeous garden in the spring. Ensure you follow the grower’s directions and plant them low enough into the ground to prevent freezing of your bulbs and hard work! Don’t underestimate colourful foliage this fall season.
Colourful Carpet
While you may think fall means that your outdoor home will lack colour, think otherwise with creative and colourful ground covering solutions. Coloured wood and rubber mulch varieties provide a gorgeous backdrop for evergreen trees and coniferous plants. Ground hugging plants like cranberry cotoneaster (bees love this one!) and other hedge plants can make for an explosive autumn show of colour.
