Now that fall is around the corner, you may be looking for easy landscaping projects to beautify your new yard for the season. It’s doesn’t have to cost a lot of money to improve your curb appeal. If you just moved in – here are some easy projects you can tackle in a few hours or over a weekend.

  • Fertilize the lawn to make it healthy and prepare it for winter. It will green up nicely in the spring.
  • If you have a piece of ground that slopes, turn it into a cascading landscape by adding concrete blocks to the lawn. You can make them look like mini-walls a few feet apart and create a stair-step look that can easily turn an ugly landscape into something beautiful.
  • Add some color. What good is fall without purples, reds, and marigolds?
  • Nurseries often put their plants on sale in the Fall, so purchase a few and drop them in a decorative pot to highlight your lawn or garden with them.
  • Decorate your porch, entryways, and other garden common areas with gourds, pumpkins, squashes, and corn stalks.
  • Plant a Fall garden with vegetables that do well in the cooler temperatures – broccoli, spinach, carrots, radishes, cauliflower, and cabbage are good candidates. You won’t have to spend as much time de-weeding in the Fall as you do in the summer.
  • Collect your leaves into a compost bin. Flip it with a garden fork once a week to aerate it and you’ll be able to use the compost to nourish your lawn and flower beds in the spring.
  • Trim dead limbs off your trees and plants. They’ll be much healthier in the spring when the bloom again.
  • Remove dead plants and weeds. You can add them to your compost bin, unless they are diseased. If that is the case, toss them.
  • Trim your perennials to the ground. Get rid of the annuals as they’ll become food for the snails and slugs.
  • Plant ornamental grasses to add some color to your lawn.
  • If you have delicate shrubs that may have a tough time during the winter, cover them with plastic pots or wrap them in burlap.

Fall landscaping can be fun and will add a touch of color to your new home in Edina, Wayzata, Orono, Minnetonka or elsewhere. Yard improvements will show your new neighbors you care about your home and can also be great conversation starters while you are working outside.