How to Prepare Your Business Landscape for Fall

Keeping your commercial property in top condition is fundamental for giving your customers a pleasant experience when they visit your business and letting them know you will take care of them with the same level of attention and detail that you give your landscape. While spring and summer are the seasons where your trees, flowers, and shrubs will be in full bloom, fall is the perfect time to take care of simple maintenance tasks that keep your property looking its best. Here are a few easy ways to prepare your business landscape for the upcoming season change.

Refresh Your Mulch

Mulch encourages the healthy development of plants by insulating the roots, protecting them from harsh temperature changes, preventing weeds, and supporting the growth of microbes that enrich the soil by breaking down and releasing essential nutrients. The harsh sun and heavy rainfall of the summer months can deteriorate your mulch, so fall provides a great opportunity for a refresh. You can extend the lifespan of your mulch by using a garden rake or shovel to turn over and fluff the current layer, or you may need to replace your old mulch with a new layer, but try to remove as much of the old mulch as possible before doing so. After it builds up beyond four inches, mulch can prevent proper water absorption or suffocate the roots of the plants.

Rake and Dethatch Your Lawn

The leaves that fall during the autumn create a perfect environment for disease-causing fungi to grow and overwinter, then the spores are re-awakened during the spring showers to reinfect the tree. Raking leaves, twigs, bark, and other debris limits the potential of your tree contracting a new disease or becoming reinfected from a disease it suffered from in the summertime. Dethatching involves removing thatch, which is comprised of dead grass, roots, and stems. As this matter builds up on your lawn, it can lead to the accumulation of more debris and even prompt infestation by insects and rodents. You can use your lawnmower to remove thatch by lowering the blade height or use a dethatching rake to manually loosen and remove it.

Trim Your Trees

Pruning diseased, dying, or dead branches is crucial for preventing them from becoming safety hazards during fall and winter storms that could cause serious damage your business or harm your employees, customers, or passing pedestrians. When trees have weakened branches, they are already prone to breaking and causing damage, but adding the weight of a substantial snowfall or ice storm will likely be too much for the trees to bear. Trimming your trees avoids this danger, as well as preventing diseases from taking hold. This task is easiest after the leaves fall because the branches are exposed, but a professional can help you determine which time is best for your specific tree species and exactly how much to trim.

To learn more about fall lawn maintenance for your commercial property, contact Bumgardners Landscape today. For over two decades, we have provided business throughout Jackson County with reliable, affordable landscaping services to keep their properties neat, clean, and appealing to customers. We can work with you to develop a custom landscape plan for your unique property that is guaranteed to give the best first impression for years to come.