Fall yard & garden maintenance for clean water

Adapted from Friends of the Mississippi River, Mississippi Watershed Management Organization, and University of Minnesota-Extension

Fall yard cleanup is an important annual chore, but not just for the tidiness of your lawn or vibrancy of your garden. It’s an opportunity to help protect water quality, with a few simple choices.

• Keep everything (except water) out of storm drains. See leaves or grass clippings piling up on the street? Pick them up! This ensures they don’t get washed into storm drains and enter the Vermillion River, tributary streams, or local lakes, where they can spur algae blooms, reduce dissolved oxygen, and harm fish and wildlife habitat. Adopt your storm drain to track what you collect and invite your neighbors to help.
• Gather (most) fallen leaves or mulch them. Rake up and dispose of fallen leaves according to local yard waste regulations. But you don’t have to rake every last leaf. If there’s just a small scattering of leaves on the lawn, you can mulch them with your lawn mower and let the diced slivers decompose between blades of grass, acting as natural fertilizer. Leaves that aren’t at risk of being blown away can generally be left alone and serve as overwintering habitat for many insects.
• Plant native grass and other plants. Late summer and fall plantings help new plants devote their energy to establishing roots. Deep, absorbent roots, like those in native plants, that are in the ground year-round can help improve soil health and reduce stormwater runoff from your property. Cool weather keeps soil temperatures lower and can help keep the soil moist longer — perfect conditions for developing new roots. In general, it is best to give fall plantings about 4-6 weeks to establish before temperatures are below freezing for long periods of time.
• Use chemical fertilizer sparingly, or not at all. Fall is the best time of year to repair dead spots in your lawn or strengthen root systems, which means many break out the fertilizer. However, it’s a source of excess nutrients that can run off into our waterways. Before applying fertilizer, read these tips:
  • Try non-chemical-based lawn care methods. Choosing the right grass seed and planting it properly, combined with practices like mulching, aeration, and other smart lawn care techniques, may be as effective or better than expensive fertilizers.
    • Aeration involves punching small holes in your yard that loosens compacted soil and helps circulate air, water, and nutrients within the soil. This leads to a healthier lawn that requires less fertilizer and other chemicals to maintain, and it doesn’t have to be done every year. You can aerate small areas by hand with a shovel or a spading fork. For larger areas, you can rent a self-propelled core aerator. Water your lawn the night before to help loosen the soil. Don’t worry about the plugs of dirt and grass it leaves behind; these will break down over time.
  • If those methods aren’t doing the trick, get your soil tested by the University of Minnesota to find out what fertilizer products are needed.
  • If you must fertilize, don’t spread the fertilizer before expected rain. It takes a couple of days for grass to absorb the fertilizer, and any precipitation during that time will wash it away into nearby storm drains. Mississippi Watershed Management Organization suggests using zero-phosphorus fertilizers and sweeping up any fertilizer that lands on a hard surface.
• Winterize your rain barrel. Rain barrels are a great way to conserve water and divert stormwater away from storm drains. Keep using it until winter hits and it’s at risk of freezing. At that point, empty the stored water into your yard (or use it to water thirsty trees, including in your street) and store the barrel somewhere safe until spring. If storing outside, ensure it is upside down to prevent any pooling of water, which could freeze and lead to cracking.