As summer winds down, your Greater Chicago commercial landscape is getting ready for those cooler temperatures of fall, when it can take a sigh of relief and regroup, preparing to hunker down for the winter months.
And despite what weather Mother Nature delivers, you need your facility to look good, which is where the right commercial landscape maintenance comes in.
Since fall is the time you are taking a breath and trying to recoup from spring and summer, it can be easy to forget or neglect your commercial landscape because you think the work you need to do outdoors is over. In fact, autumn is a great time to conduct some tasks that can elevate your site conditions and plant health, ensuring it looks better the next spring and summer.
To help you focus on the most essential and important tasks, let’s discuss what fall cleanups should include for commercial properties in Greater Chicago so you can have a healthier commercial landscape that requires less maintenance but delivers the best aesthetics when you need them most.
Commercial Landscape Fall Cleanup Musts for Your Greater Chicago Commercial Property
Need some comprehensive fall commercial landscape maintenance that you can use to target your to-do list and keep your facility looking great?
We completely understand. You can feel like you have to do so much that you may not be focusing on the right or most important tasks for the season.
That’s why we’re here to make your job easier and tell you which fall cleanup issues are of utmost urgency for the autumn time of year.
Clean Up the Fall Leaves
Naturally, we wouldn’t be talking about fall cleanup without talking about commercial leaf removal and how to manage the leaf drop that happens with deciduous trees in Greater Chicago.
Managing leaves on your commercial site can feel extremely overwhelming during the autumn months, especially if you have a lot of trees on your property.
But removing leaves from the grass is incredibly important for the health of the turf underneath. That’s why you can’t neglect this fall cleanup task.
Your commercial landscape professional will rake the leaves or blow them into piles and dispose of them or remove them to help your lawn look fresh and better prepare it for the buildup of winter precipitation.
Maintain Perennials
The perennials on your commercial property have served your site well throughout spring and summer. They add great blooms, color, leaf shape and texture. They bring a lot to a commercial facility in Greater Chicago.
But by autumn, they are winding down. They need some commercial landscape maintenance to ensure they can do their job again the next year. Fall is the perfect time to add this chore to your property manager cleanup list.
Tidy perennials by deadheading or cutting them back and trimming ornamental grasses so they remain neat through fall and winter and are ready for the coming spring. Doing this chore in fall also ensures a cleaner appearance in spring and one less thing to do as the growing season resumes.
Shutdown and Winterize Your Irrigation System
During the summer months, your commercial facility’s trees, shrubs, perennials, annuals, and turf require regular irrigation.
But as the year comes to an end and your plants are slowing down growth, your property needs less and less water.
In the fall, shutting down your irrigation system properly, blowing out any remaining water, and winterizing the system is an essential pre-winter preparation step to avoid leftover water that can freeze and damage pipes or flood facility buildings when it thaws.
No one wants to face severe damage or costly repairs. This fall cleanup task is a simple process that ensures you avoid unwanted costs, repairs, and hassles.
Fertilize Your Turf
During the fall, taking the time to properly prepare your commercial turf for the upcoming winter is crucial. You may not think your lawn needs attention at this time of year, but it can actually set it up for success for the following spring.
One necessary fall cleanup task for your turf is fertilization. A professional commercial landscape company will look at your facility’s lawn areas and evaluate their condition, determining what type of fertilizer is necessary for the best root growth.
This process gives your turf the nutrients it needs to become thicker and healthier going into winter dormancy so it can burst forth with thick, green growth come spring.
Mow for the Final Time
As the fall winds down leading up to the last mow of the season on your commercial property, your commercial landscape provider will want to adequately prepare it for the winter.
This means cutting the grass a bit shorter going into winter to prevent snow mold from accumulating where it can harm your turf or cause it to look bad in spring.
No one wants to add another thing to their to-do list in spring as the growing season kicks into full gear. Keeping grass tidy is a fall cleanup task that helps prevent you from having any spring turf issues that require more money, time, energy, and repair.
Aerate and Overseed
Fall is the best time to aerate and overseed your commercial lawn in Greater Chicago.
First of all, aeration allows your grass some time to develop stronger roots while exposing the soil to a good dose of nutrients. Aeration, as the removal of small plugs of soil, gives your tired, worn, compacted lawn a chance to more easily receive oxygen, nutrients and water at the root-level where it’s needed most.
Overseeding as part of fall commercial landscape maintenance is perfect because those plugs that are removed through aeration create the perfect holes for seed to contact the soil and germinate. This improves the germination process considerably, making overseeding more successfully in strengthening and thickening your commercial turf.
Extras to Consider as Part of Commercial Landscape Maintenance in Fall
While the above tasks are components in your fall cleanup program, some other fall tasks are important to consider at this time of year to ensure the best success for your Greater Chicago commercial property.
Don’t forget to think about exploring these other commercial landscape maintenance elements as the weather begins to cool in autumn.
Add Autumn Seasonal Color
The year may be coming to an end as the cooler weather rolls in, but fall in Greater Chicago brings a whole additional season of potential when it comes to color.
Seasonal color can be a vibrant addition to your commercial facility’s commercial landscape maintenance in fall, boosting visibility and keeping visitors, customers, tenants, and others interested through containers that burst with color, impact, and variety. There are a lot of combinations that can inspire fall themes and continue to draw visitors, guests, tenants, shoppers, and customers to your commercial building’s doors.
A great commercial landscape maintenance partner can recommend aesthetically pleasing seasonal color solutions to enhance your unique property throughout the entire year.
Prep Your Landscape For Winter
Many commercial properties get ready for winter during the fall months.
This is to ensure snow and ice doesn’t stop them from welcoming tenants, visitors, guests, or shoppers. Secure your snow and ice removal professional in fall so you aren’t surprised by and unprepared for that first snowfall.
Your snow removal professional will then assess your site. Some areas that accumulate large drifts may require some snow fencing. Some of your trees may need to be wrapped with burlap to avoid winter burn.
These essential fall commercial landscape maintenance chores can be done quickly in fall to give you a smoother winter as a facility manager.
Plan for Future Projects
No landscape can stay perfectly planted and arranged forever. The reason trees, shrubs, perennials, and annuals add beauty to your commercial property is because they grow, change, and adapt.
Without some TLC or as conditions change in various areas, plants can lose vigor or just become overgrown and messy.
That’s where pulling up or replacing old, dead, or sparse plants or tagging areas for renovation becomes a key fall cleanup idea for commercial buildings. Inspecting current beds and removing landscaping that’s seen much better days can help you figure out what you have to work with and where you have holes and need some updated plants or fresh design. It can also help you budget for necessary improvements so you’re not caught by surprise by last minute costs.
It’s Time to Schedule Fall Commercial Landscape Maintenance Services for Your Property
Fall cleanup services are just as important as your spring cleanup and summer commercial grounds management tasks.
Don’t leave this important season out of your maintenance and planning. KD Landscape can help you prepare for a successful fall so you can put your facility in the best position possible for a wonderful winter and successful spring.
Want to learn more about our fall commercial landscape maintenance services in Greater Chicago? Get started today with a free quote. We’ll review your options together so you can feel confident and make a great choice.
