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Fall landscaping preparation ideas ready your yard for a long winter and glorious spring.  Fall landscaping chores are your last chance to prepare your property for winter, and to protect that curb appeal you’ve worked so hard to create. So pull on some gloves, grab your tools, and get ready to mulch, prune, and plant before snow and frozen ground turn the lights out on your landscaping. Spread Mulch Fall mulching is better for the plants than spring mulching and it helps protect roots from frost and helps retain moisture during a cold and dry winter.  Spread 2-3 inches of fresh mulch around shrubs and trees.  Avoid using free mulch from municipal piles, which often contain disease spores; instead, buy hardwood shredded mulch from home and garden centers.  Cheap, dump mulch mainly is made from trees that have died from disease and many diseases will linger in the mulch, like leaf spot and pine bark borers. You don’t want ground-up diseased plants around your landscaping.

Fall is the most crucial time for your lawn.  Although spring lawn care gets all the attention, fall lawn care is the make-it or break-it season for grass. “I’m already thinking about next year,” says John Dillon, who takes care of New York City’s Central Park, which features 200 acres of lawn in the middle of Manhattan. “The grass I grow this fall is what will be there next spring.” Fall lawn care is no walk in the park. It’s hard work, and Dillon guides you through the four basic steps. #1 Aerate Aeration gives your lawn a breather in autumn and provides room for new grass to spread without competition from spring weeds. Aeration tools pull up plugs of grass and soil, breaking up compacted turf. That allows water, oxygen, and nutrients to reach roots, and gives seeds room to sprout. If kids frequently play on your lawn, plan to aerate twice a year — fall and spring. If your lawn is just for show, then aerate once a year — and maybe even once every other year. A hand-aeratin