
POOL RETAINING WALL
March 26, 2015FALL GARDENING IN UTAH: A MONTH-BY-MONTH CHECKLIST

It’s fall here in the intermountain west, and it’s time to make sure our yards are ready for winter. Here is a month-by-month list of tasks to complete to get your lawn and garden ready for the upcoming cold months.
September:
- Reduce lawn water to 1-1.5 inches per week. This can even go lower or even be eliminated with sufficient rainfall
- Set your mower to cut the grass 2-2.5 inches tall.
- Aerate and overseed your lawn to help thicken grass as needed
- Apply a high nitrogen fertilizer to your lawn. This is the most important fertilization on the year. Slow-release varieties are best.
- Clear debris from the base of roses.
- Plant new shrubs and evergreens.
- Plant fall annuals.
October:
- Drop the height of the mower to cut the grass to 1 inch.
- Drain and winterize your sprinkler system.
- Detach your hose from the house to prevent broken pipes in a hard freeze.Harvest any remaining vegetables from your garden before the hard frost.
- Spray weeds with a weed killer.
- Remove perennials you do not wish to keep. Trim others back to within a few inches of the ground and drop the trimmings on the dirt to create a mulch layer.
- Rake up fallen leaves to allow your lawn to breathe.
- Plant spring bulbs.
- Till remaining vegetable plants into the soil to mulch for next year.
- Trim long rose canes.
- Clean out rain gutters, removing the fallen leaves and debris of the season. Check downspouts.
November:
- Apply 1 pound of nitrogen (21-0-0) per 1,000 square feet to your lawn.
- Spread a layer of mulch over your planting beds to serve as a blanket for your plants over the winter.
- Prune dead tree limbs. These are more likely to fall and create hazards due to the wind and snow of winter. General pruning is not recommended in the fall.