Your Autumn Garden Checklist
The cooler months are fast approaching, so it’s time to prepare your lawn and plants. Autumn is a great time to spruce up the garden and keep it looking happy and healthy. We’ve got some tips to make it easy:
Leaves
Winter’s approach means the leaves will be falling. You’ll want to give your rake or leaf blower a good workout to ensure the health of your yard.
Fallen leaves, if left unattended, can suffocate your lawn, smother plants, and create a haven for diseases at the base of roses and other shrubs. Dispose of leaves in your green waste recycling bin, or shred them for a natural fertilising compost.
If you have a fairly small yard, our lightweight electric or petrol blowers will be the perfect machine to clear away debris into orderly piles, which can then be easily collected. Our cordless blowers are another good choice for those seeking a high-powered but quiet model. Alternatively, you could use a vacuum shredder — these will suck up the leaves and debris instead of blowing them around, so you can simply dispose of the contents in the vacuum bag when you’re finished.
Need a leaf blower or shredder? You’ll be blown away by your options.
Garden
There is still plenty of gardening to be done during autumn.
Plant your favourite bulbs now for colourful springtime blooms. Some popular spring flowering bulbs include daffodils, tulips, freesias, hyacinths and alliums. Bulbs are easy to plant — simply dig a hole roughly twice the height of the bulb, press them in, and add some compost. Try to keep them in sunny and well-drained areas.
Pruning is another important autumn task. Removing dead or dying branches from trees will improve their health and appearance, and can promote crop growth in fruit trees. Be careful not to prune back everything in the garden — some plants, such as wisteria, will already be sporting their spring buds, and you won’t want to remove them. Make sure you’re also using sharp tools for a clean cut; torn or bruised cuts will slow the plant’s healing process.
And of course, don’t forget to give everything a good drink, especially your trees. Their roots will need the water to make it through the cooler months.
We’ve got products so good you’ll wet your plants. Find the perfect tools in our selection of pruning shears.
Hedges
Hedge pruning is another good job to check off the to-do list. You will be able to remove dead wood, promote flowering, and create more shapely and attractive hedges with just a little bit of TLC.
Make sure you trim your hedges before winter to keep them compact and bushy. Check that those blades are sharp to avoid damaging your plants. Our STIHL range of hedge trimmer’s come with high-quality blades, guaranteed to stay sharper for longer. Maintain the sharpness by spraying it with STIHL’s resin spray after use. And don’t forget, you can bring all of your tools into STIHL Shop Geebung to take advantage of our sharpening service.
You’re sure to find the hedge trimmers you need with our cutting hedge technology.
Lawn
There are a few simple steps to take that will help prepare your lawn for winter.
First, check the height of your lawn mower. Many people will have raised the height in summer to reduce heat stress. At the beginning of autumn, you can mow at a similar height or just slightly lower; a bit of extra length on the lawn will provide protection against frost come winter. However, if you want to reduce the height (which will help the soil dry out more quickly in spring), be sure to do it gradually throughout autumn to avoid scalping the lawn and damaging its growth.
Aerating the lawn can also be a good idea, particularly if the aerator you use removes plugs of soil instead of punching holes. This will improve drainage and put your lawn in good stead for winter.
Autumn is also a great time to feed the lawn; this will provide essential nutrients that your lawn requires during the colder months. A slow-release lawn food will strengthen the root system and promote thicker blades.
If you’d like some advice about our range of ride-on and walk-behind mowers, come ask our friendly team. We’re easy to get a-lawn with.