Don’t suffer the ugly anymore. Here’s how to give your garden a fall makeover.

Your poor, sad garden. The spent vines, stubborn weeds, and greens gone to seed are putting a pitiful spin on your backyard retreat.

But it doesn’t have to be that way. Here are some simple tips to tidy up your garden and yard, which will also help prep them for next year.

Bury the Dead

Nothing looks sadder than leggy tomato vines, yellow zucchini leaves, and dried-up perennials that long ago displayed their last bloom. So pull and prune the dead or dying plants in your garden.

Bury spent plants in your compost pile; double-bag diseased and infested plants and place in the trash. (Empty mulch bags are great final resting places for these plants, so be sure to stockpile them in spring.)

If your tomato vines are still bearing fruit, keep staking and pruning them until the first hard frost, when they’ll likely die. And give the birds a break and leave some seed-bearing but spent blooms for them. They love sunflowers, cone flowers, berries, and black-eyed Susans.

Pull Weeds

This is the last time this season to pull weeds. Pluck them before they flower and send seeds throughout your garden that will rest in winter and sprout in spring.

If you have a mulcher, chop the weeds and throw them on your compost pile. If you want to be extra sure that weed seeds are dead, bag weeds in black plastic and place in a sunny place for a couple of months. The heat will kill the seeds. Then throw the cooked weeds on your compost pile.

Harvest Seeds

One way to cut garden expenses is to harvest and store seeds. One large sunflower, for instance, can provide seeds for hundreds of plants next spring. Here are some seed guidelines.

• Harvest seeds from heirloom vegetables and standard plants.
• Disease can spread through seeds, so only harvest seeds from your healthiest plants.
• Don’t harvest seeds from hybrid plants, which often are sterile or will look nothing like the parent plant.
• Only harvest mature seeds from dry and faded blooms and pods. Mature seeds are often cream colored or brown.
• After seeds are dry, store them in envelopes or glass jars in a cool, dry place.

Gather Supports

Stack and cover metal tomato cages. Bundle wooden or bamboo stakes, and store in a dry place so they don’t rot over winter. And retrieve panty-hose vine ties that you can re-use next spring.

Instead of throwing out broken cages and stakes, repurpose them. Snip off remaining cage legs to use for pepper supports. Broken tomato steaks will support smaller plants if you whittle one end into a point, so it easily slips into the ground.

Save time and money while adding touches of awesomeness to your yard.

We’re all about indulging in Starbucks’ latest seasonal concoction or this season’s “it” bag. (OK, maybe a knockoff version of this season’s “it” bag.) Trends are just plain fun — and they keep things interesting. But they also, by definition, are hip today and potentially worthlesstomorrow.

And that’s not exactly a recipe for success when it comes to your home and the first impression it gives. While a green lawn might be a safe bet to keep your home’s value intact, let’s face it, it’s boring.

For a little outdoor drama that won’t cost much (and actually saves money and time instead), try these landscaping trends:

#1 Build a Rain Garden for Colorful Blooms

What’s not to like about:

• Not having to water?
• Saving on your water bill?
• And having a colorful garden that’s easy to maintain?

A rain garden is the trifecta of yard care. Once seen primarily in drought-prone areas of the country, rain gardens are depressions in the ground (like a shallow bowl) filled with plants designed to filter and absorb water from your home’s rain gutters.

The benefit to you: Beyond the environmental benefits — like keeping rainwater from reaching the sewer system and filtering out pollutants — rain gardens can be gorgeous additions to your yard.

Ted Whitehouse, co-owner of Whitehouse Landscaping, says colorful deep-rooted plants, such as smooth blue aster and swamp milkweed, are ideal candidates. Many rain gardens also include beautiful stone and river-rock hardscaping to help channel the water.

Cost details: A rain garden doesn’t cost any more than other perennial gardens — about $3 to $5 per square foot if you DIY.

Related: Costs and Tips for Installing a Rain Barrel

#2 Create Natural Habitats (and Boost Your Curb Appeal)

Homeowners have finally gotten smart over the past couple of decades and stopped trying to force non-native plants into their landscapes. (Hostas in the hot Florida sun? A total waste of money, time, and water.)

And that’s great, but what’s even better and becoming more popular? Adding other native elements to your landscape to help bees, birds, and butterflies thrive.

Just a few simple things can create a native habitat, according to the National Wildlife Federation:

• Water, such as a bird bath
• Cover from predators, such as plants to help camouflage them
• Shelter to raise their young, like a birdhouse

The benefit to you: Because the creatures you shelter will help you.Many are important pollinators, which means having them around will help keep blooms a-coming — boosting your curb appeal, says Adriana O’Toole, a REALTOR® in New Jersey.

Cost details: Some native plants may cost marginally more than non-native species — because they’re more difficult for nurseries to propagate, are grown in smaller quantities, or aren’t available through traditional retail outlets — but their reduced maintenance costs deliver big savings over time.

According to the EPA, “the combined costs of installation and maintenance for a natural landscape over a 10-year period may be one-fifth of the costs for conventional landscape maintenance.”

#3 Shrink the Size of Your Lawn

More homeowners are replacing water-thirsty grass with low-maintenance alternatives that don’t need much hydration — if any. Easy alternatives include hardscaping or evergreen ground covers, such as pachysandra, which is drought resistant and fast spreading, O’Toole says.

The benefit to you: Less grass = less maintenance + lower water bills. Also, patios, walkways, and stepping stones introduce fresh eye candy and functionality to your yard space. Depending on where you live, turf replacement also could make you eligible for a rebate — up to $2 per square foot in California.

Cost details: Depending on the scope of the project and the materials used, the initial cost could be significant. The savings come over a few years as you reduce or eliminate your use of water, fertilizer, pesticides, and lawn equipment.

#4 Landscape With Plants You Can Eat

Backyard vegetable gardening has become so popular that these tasty plantings have finally broken into the decorative gardening space, especially for people with tiny yards or urban homes with only front yards.

Many vegetables and herbs produce aesthetically pleasing foliage and flowers, making them as delicious to behold as they are to eat. Basil, broccoli, Swiss chard, and feathery fennel leaves all have eye-catching colors and textures, for example, while eggplant, dill, and okra deliver beautiful blooms.

Edible landscaping ideas include:

• Leafy vegetables such as lettuce, chard, and kale as borders
• Pole beans on fences and arbors
• Rhubarb in flower beds
• Blueberry and currant bushes as hedges
• Cucumbers and zucchini as climbing vines on trellises

The benefit to you: It’s about saving money because you get double bang for your buck.

• Practically free food
• A gorgeous yard while saving on your food bill

Cost details: Many vegetable and herb plants cost only a little more than ornamentals, and their seed prices often are comparable.

Related: Check Out These Landscaping Walls That Include Edibles

#5 Add a Fire Pit to Get More Living Space

Whitehouse says more than half of his clients request a fire pit in their landscaping projects. They make beautiful — yet functional — focal points for your yard that encourage you to hang outside more often.

The benefit to you: Being able to use your outdoor spaces beyond the warmest months is practically like adding square footage. But best of all, there’s nothing like toasting s’mores on a chilly October night to give you so many happy feels.

Cost details: It can more than pay for itself when you sell — if you’re willing to do a little DIY. According to the “Remodeling Impact Report” from the National Association of REALTORS® (which produces HouseLogic), a professionally installed natural stone fire pit (with a 10-foot-diameter flagstone patio) costs an average of $4,500 — and returns about 78% when you sell.

But a kit from a home improvement store costs as little as $200 if you’re willing to tackle the job yourself … or check out the myriad of easy tutorials you can build from scratch like this DIY fire pit.

#6 Add LEDs for Lighting That’s Cheap to Use

LED technology is the continuing trend for illuminating your home and property. Advances have reduced the bulbs’ harsh tone, producing a warmer glow similar to halogen.

The benefit to you: Any type of lighting adds warmth and safety that homeowners and potential buyers value, O’Toole says, and it allows you to highlight special features in your landscape or architecture.

In addition, low-voltage LED lighting lasts 10 to 15 years, making it about as low maintenance as you can get.

Cost details: LED bulbs themselves cost more than halogen bulbs, but because they use 75% less energy and last eight to 25 times longer, they’re cheaper in the long run. But don’t forget to consider the visibility of the light fixture itself once those LEDs are on. You may want to spend a little more money on light fixtures that are easily seen, such as those that light the pathway or entry, so they complement your home, Whitehouse says.

Stay away from rubber mulch. And Bradford pears.

The house. The yard. It’s all a part of the American dream, right? But after a few seasons with raking, mowing, fertilizing, watering, weeding, pruning, and more, having a yard can feel more like an endless fever dream.

Having a yard doesn’t have to suck up every a moment of your life. The trick is picking plants and landscaping materials that don’t need tons of help from you to look good. Here’s what to plant so you can reclaim some time.

Grass

For being everywhere, grass is a lot of work. “It’s high maintenance,” says Abra Lee, a University of Georgia extension agent. “It needs a lot of mowing, fertilizer, and water. It’s prone to disease.”

Even so, it’s kind of a must for most yards. To make your For the Greenest GrassAdd nitrogen. And resist the urge to mow it super short. That’ll definitely brown it up. Maybe kill it.Read More InLawn Care Tips for the Greenest Grassgrass maintenance life easier, go with as small a patch of grass as you can get away with, and plant these types:

Grass for Northern Climates

• Fescue: It’s disease resistant and slow growing, so it needs less mowing and fertilizing than other types. You can also grow it quickly from seed, cheaper than buying sod.

Grass for Southern Climates

• Bermuda: It grows in poor soils and can withstand kids and dogs romping on it nonstop. It’s nearly impossible to kill — good if you’ve no interest in caring for a prima donna lawn.

 

Bushes

Pick bushes you don’t need to prune constantly. The time you spend trimming boxwoods into tidy little balls is part of your life you’ll never get back.

• Azaleas: They look best when you let them grow into natural, unpruned drifts. There are more than 10,000 named varieties, so there’s an azalea for your yard and climate. They can live for a century so you may die before they do. If you live in colder climate, go with rhododendrons, azaleas’ larger, tougher cousins.
• Emerald Green Arborvitae: It’s a fast-growing evergreen that can stand up to heat and humidity. It’s a good choice for a hedge. They’re tidy, Christmas-tree shaped plants you’ll never need to prune.
• Hydrangeas: They’re fast growing and covered with fab blooms from spring till fall. Prune a hydrangea and it will not make flowers, which defeats the purpose of having them. There are hundreds of varieties so you’ll find one that will thrive in your area.
• Cryptomeria: This one’s a fast-growing evergreen that tolerates neglect. It’s also called a Japanese cedar. It’s tall, tapering, and elegant.

Flowers

Perennials are the lazy gardener’s friend. Plant them once, and they’ll come back year after year.

• Coneflowers: They bloom all season and come in a rainbow of colors, but the varieties with purple or white blooms are the sturdiest. An added bonus: They’re great for bouquets. Cut them and bring them inside. Fresh flowers from your own yard! What’s not to love?
• Black-Eyed Susans: These yellow flowers look like the ones kids draw. They bloom from last frost to first frost and they can take almost all the heat, drought, and neglect you and Mother Nature can dish out. Also, they will plant themselves, dropping lots of seed so you’ll get new plants each spring.
• Russian Sage: Don’t fertilize it or water it too much, and it will reward you with a mound of silvery foliage and spires of violet-blue flowers that last all summer.

Trees

First, buy the largest young tree you can afford, because a tiny switch of sapling might not become a big tree until you’re eligible for AARP. Second, don’t plant a Bradford pear. Ever. They crack and fall too easily. Instead, plant these:

• Oaks: They’re strong and can live for a century or more. They can take a long time to become majestic giants, so if you’re looking for shade, prepare to be patient. Pin oaks and sawtooth oaks get big the fastest; they can grow as much as two feet a year.
• Crepe Myrtles: They make flowers in the summer and their leaves turn in the fall, so you get two seasons of color. Best of all, they grow very fast, going from sapling to mature tree in five years.
• Tulip Poplar: They grow to a regal 90 feet tall, and make tons of shade. You’ll get tulip-shaped flowers from it in late spring, and bright yellow leaves in the fall. They’re disease resistant and strong enough to withstand winds that would take down other trees.
• Cherry: They’re little — 20 to 35 feet tall — so they won’t overpower a small yard, and they make white or pink flowers in the spring. Stick with the non-fruiting types because they’re easier to grow and less messy.
• Eastern Redbud: This is a small, hardy tree that grows fast, and has spring flowers and fall foliage. Birds eat their berries, so you’ll make new feathered friends

Groundcover

Plant some instead of grass in places where there’s not much foot traffic. They’ll smother weeds, and they grow just fine with no help from you.

• Ornamental Grass: It makes fountains of wispy, slender foliage in reds, greens, golds. Varieties that are short and grow in clumps — like blue fescue, mondo grass, and liriope — are the best choice. And yes, there is grass in the name, but, no, you will not have to mow it.
• Golden Moneywort: This creeping vine grows fast, and once established, looks like a carpet made of tiny green-gold leaves. It keeps its color through the winter unless you live in Fargo.
• Ajuga: Another creeper (the plant type, not the human type who lurks at malls), this 2-inch tall plant has shiny, dark green leaves and, in the spring, blue flowers. It carpets the ground and will even grow in shade.

Mulch

Mulch is your friend. Put it around your plants, and it will put the smackdown on weeds, you won’t have to water as often, and it’ll enrich the soil when it decays into the earth. Enriched soil means healthy plants. Healthy plants don’t get sick and die.

• Hardwood or Pine Bark: These are the longest-lasting natural mulches. You’ll need to replace it once a year because it decays into the earth. Wait, you say, can’t I use some of that awesome rubber mulch that will still be there when my kids are in college? Yes, you can. But rubber mulch does a poor job of stopping weeds and will not feed your soil, so you’ll need to fertilize your plants and pull weeds regularly. Also, research has shown rubber mulch contains chemicals that can leach into the soil and eventually kill plants. Note: Rubber mulch is great for areas where you just want to cover the ground, not grow plants.

Grass a Breath of Fresh Air

Lawn aeration brings oxygen, water, and nutrients directly to grass roots, which helps make your lawn green and lush. It’s a critical part of spring and fall lawn care and gives roots the vital boost they need.

Here’s how:

Lawn Aeration Basics

Lawn aeration pulls 2- to 8-inch soil “plugs” out of the ground, leaving holes that allow water, air, and nutrients to reach grass roots, and lets new seed germinate in a cool, moist environment. Hard clay soils need to be aerated more often than sandy soil. A soil test will tell you what type of soil you have.

John Dillon, who directs lawn care at New York City’s Central Park, says aeration helps lawns by:

• Allowing oxygen to reach the root zone, which invigorates lawns
• Relieving compaction by allowing established grass and seed to spread into plug holes
• Controlling thatch buildup
• Reducing water runoff

Aeration Tools

You can aerate by hand with an aerating tool ($20), which looks like a pitchfork with two hollow tines. Step on the tool’s bridge and drive the hollow tines into the earth. It’s slow-going, but good for spot aerating small patches of lawn.

You also can buy an aeration attachment ($60) for your garden tiller, but the tool slices the lawn and doesn’t actually remove plugs.

Most lawn aeration is done with a self-propelled machine known as a core aerator. About the size of a large lawn mower, a core aerator has hollow tines or spoons that rotate on a drum, removing soil plugs as you guide it from behind. This tool is available at most garden or rental centers for $15 to $25 per hour. Plan two to four hours to aerate an average quarter-acre suburban lot.

Timing is Everything

Aerate after the first frost has killed weeds, but before the ground has become too hard. It’s a good idea to spread grass seed after you aerate, so make sure you’re still able to water your lawn for two weeks after you aerate, which will help the seed to germinate.

Adria Bordas, a Fairfax County Virginia extension agent, says lawns with a lot of foot traffic should be aerated twice a year — March through April, and mid-August through October.

No DIY skills necessary for these outdoor projects. Did we mention they’re really, really easy?

You don’t need to be the host of an extreme home makeover show to build an amazing backyard. In fact, the transformative projects below are easy enough for even the klutziest home improvement newbie to complete.

Just don’t be shocked when the Johnsons appear at your door with hot dog buns in hand, begging to throw a cookout at your place.

#1 No-Blow Outdoor Curtains

When Cara Daniel of “The Project Addict” blog spied a neighbor’s unruly outdoor curtains, she hacked some for her porch that could withstand a gusty Tornado Alley afternoon without upending a glass of lemonade or ensnaring an unsuspecting guest.

She found the sweet spot by slipping conduit pipes through the curtain tabs up top and a hem at the bottom, and securing the pipes with wires (taut, but not too tight).

Daniel did all the hard work of dreaming up the curtains, so a DIY newbie can definitely recreate the project, which uses easy-to-find materials like washers and camping stakes.

Upkeep has been equally simple thanks to her sturdy choice of fabric. “The marine fabric is better than outdoor fabric that I bought,” says Daniel. The easy-to-wash choice has kept the curtains looking picturesque after five years of use.

#2 Shutter Privacy Fence

No fence? No problem! Daune Pitman of the “Cottage in the Oaks” blog MacGyvered an attractive privacy feature from a friend’s pile of discarded shutters.

The $0 price wasn’t the only thing that made the material desirable for an outdoor nook’s privacy screen, though. “They were tall,” says Pitman, “could easily be attached to posts, had the vents — which allows air to flow through — and didn’t weigh too much.”

After nailing the shutters to four-by-fours cemented into the ground (an easy task with a store-bought bag of pre-mixed cement), the nook-facing side got a charming French-blue facelift and the back a coating of foliage-matching bark brown paint.

It’s a kind of self-explanatory project because all you need is:

• Shutters
• Posts
• Cement
• Hinges (plus screws) for the shutters
• Paint

What could be easier?

#3 PVC Pipe Pergola

Suburbanite Monica Mangin of the site “East Coast Creative” jumped at the chance to rehab a client’s neglected urban patio.

The showstopper was a clever PVC pergola decked with industrial-style lights. She was inspired by traditional wood pergolas, but wanted an easier material.

“A lot of mason jar light fixtures were trending,” says Mangin.”I liked the look of that but wanted to turn it a little more industrial.”

PVC pipe — with rebar inside as an anchor — won out for its ease on the DIYer and wallet. Could it get any easier?

A simple coat of hammered metallic outdoor spray paint gave the pipe a pricier look, and industrial-strength zip ties kept the string of dimmable, Edison bulb-style lights in place.

Although the project doesn’t take much time or skill, Mangin recommends recruiting two friends to help. Have one hold each end of the pergola while the third secures the lights with zip ties. Overall, it’s a dinner party-friendly cinch that’s surpassed the one-year mark.

Related:  A Pretty Pergola Goes Up in Only 14 Hours

4. Solar Light Hose Guards

Topping the list of Sad Gardening Ironies is when the hose you’ve lugged out to help your landscaping stay lush mows over a bed of delicate flowers you just planted. Sigh.

Lynda Makara of the blog “Home of Happy Art” figured out a pretty and pragmatic solution using affordable solar lights.

The DIY part entailed trashing their original plastic stakes (they weren’t strong enough to hold a hose in place), hammering 24-inch pieces of rebar into the ground, and slipping a light over each piece.

Those sturdy posts could handle even the bulkiest hose, protecting Makara’s plantings during waterings then casting a lovely spotlight on them post-dusk.

“The rebar is maintenance free,” says Makara. “I have had to replace some of the batteries in the solar lights, but I think that’s pretty normal.”

It doesn’t get much easier than hammering a stake into the ground. Although Makara suggests straightening the rebar with a level, that’s about as technical as it gets to create a more functional, flowering garden.

When’s the best time to water your lawn?

Image: HouseLogic

Image: HouseLogic

Lawn-care tips for a barefoot-worthy yard that’ll ensure your home has uber curb appeal.

Ahhhh, that sensation of stepping onto a freshly-mowed lawn sans footwear. There’s nothing like it. Especially when you realize that a lawn you love is also one that’ll pay you back when you sell.

A well-maintained lawn almost always returns 100% or more of your investment.

Here are lawn care tips and a schedule to ensure you’ve got a lush lawn from spring to fall.

Early Spring

Like so many maintenance jobs, everything goes smoother — and you’ll get better results — with proper preparation. Early spring is the time to get ready for lawn-growing and mowing season.

Related: How to Bring Back Your Lawn After Winter Damage

Sharpen mower blades to ensure clean cuts. A dull blade tears the grass, leaving jagged edges that discolor the lawn and invite pathogens.

Sharpen mower blades once each month during grass-cutting season. Have a backup blade (about $20) so that a sharp one is always on hand.

Tune up your mower with a new sparkplug ($3 to $5) and air filter ($5 to $10). Your mower might not need a new sparkplug every season, but changing it is a simple job, and doing it every year ensures you won’t forget the last time you replaced your sparkplug.

Buy fresh gas. Gas that’s been left to sit over the winter can accumulate moisture that harms small engines. This is especially true for fuel containing ethanol, so use regular grades of gasoline.

If you need to dump old gasoline, ask your city or county for local disposal sites that take old fuel.

Clean up your lawn. Time to get out the leaf rakes and remove any twigs and leaves that have accumulated over the winter. A thick layer of wet leaves can smother a lawn if not immediately removed in early spring. Cleaning up old debris clears the way for applying fertilizer and herbicides.

Spring

Depending on your weather, your grass will now start growing in earnest, so be ready for the first cutting. Don’t mow when the grass is wet — you could spread diseases, and wet clippings clog up lawn mowers.

Fertilizing: Both spring and fall are good times to fertilize your lawn. In the northern third of the country, where winters are cold, fertilize in fall — cool weather grasses go dormant over winter and store energy in their roots for use in the spring.

For the rest of the country, apply fertilizer just as your grass begins its most active growth. For best results, closely follow the application directions on the product. You’ll spend about $50 to $75 per application for an average 1/4-acre lot.

Aeration: Aerating punches small holes in your lawn so water, fertilizers, and oxygen reach grass roots. Pick a day when the soil is damp but not soaked so the aeration machine can work efficiently.

Related: More About Lawn Aeration

Pre-emergent herbicides: Now is the time to apply a pre-emergent herbicide to prevent crabgrass and other weeds from taking root in your lawn. A soil thermometer is a handy helper; you can pick one up for $10 to $20. When you soil temperature reaches 58 degrees — the temperature at which crabgrass begins to germinate — it’s time to apply the herbicide.

Early Summer

Watch out for grubs: Warm weather means that grub worms, the larvae stage of June, Japanese, and other beetles, start feeding on the tender root systems of lawns. Affected lawns show browning and wilting patches.

To be certain that the culprits are grubs, pull back the sod and look for white, C-shaped grubs. If you see more than 10 per square foot, your lawn should be treated with a chemical pesticide.

Milky spore is an environmentally friendly way to control some species of grubs. When using insecticides, read and follow all label directions, and water the product into the soil immediately. Cost is around $50 to $75 per application.

Grass-cutting tip: Your grass is starting to grow fast, and you might even be cutting more than once a week to keep up. To keep grass healthy, mow often enough so you’re removing no more than 1/3 of the grass blade.

Pesky weeds: Weeds that have escaped an herbicide application should be removed with a garden fork. Use a post-emergent herbicide only if you think the situation is getting out of hand.

Check out our guide to some common types of weeds and tips on how to get rid of them.

Summer

Here’s a good mantra to guide you through the heart of grass-mowing season: The taller the grass, the deeper the roots, the fewer the weeds, and the more moisture the soil holds between watering.

With that in mind, here’s how to ensure a healthy, green lawn:

• Set your mower blade height to 3 inches.
• Deep and infrequent watering is better for lawns than frequent sprinkles, which promote shallow root growth. In general, lawns need about 1 inch of water per week.

Lawns that receive less than that will likely go dormant. That’s okay, the grass is still alive, but dormant lawns should still receive at least 1 inch of water per month. Your grass will green up again when the weather brings regular rains.

• To check sprinkler output, scatter some pie tins around the yard to see how much water collects in a specific amount of time. Having a rain gauge ($5 to $20) will help you keep track of how much water the lawn receives naturally.
• At least once each month, clean underneath your mower to prevent spreading lawn diseases.
• Although it’s OK to leave grass clippings on the lawn where they can decompose and nourish the soil, remove large clumps. Regularly rake up any leaves, twigs, and debris.

If your grass seems to be stressed out, check out our advice on what to do if your lawn is turning brown.

Early Fall

The best time to patch bare or thin spots is when the hot, dry days of summer have given way to cooler temps. Follow these simple steps:

• Remove any dead grass.
• Break up the soil with a garden trowel.
• Add an inch of compost and work it into the soil.
• Add grass seed that’s designed for shade or full sun, depending. Spread the seed evenly across the bare patch.
• Use a hard-tooth rake to work the seed into the soil to a depth of about half an inch.
• Sprinkle grass clippings over the patch to help prevent the soil from drying out.
• Water the area; you’ll want to keep the patch moist, so lightly water once a day until the seed germinates and the new grass gets about one inch tall.

Fall

Your main job in fall is to keep your lawn free of leaves and other debris. You can use a mulching mower to break up leaves and add the organic matter to your soil, but be sure to clean up any clumps so they don’t kill the grass.

In the northern one-third of the country, now is the time to fertilize your lawn. Your grass will store the nutrients in its roots as it goes dormant over the winter, and your lawn will be ready for a jump start when spring warms the ground.

This is also the time to clean up your garden.