How to Prep Your Yard for Winter: Fall Landscaping Checklist

Preparing your landscape for the winter months helps protect plants, soil, and outdoor features from Colorado's harsh freezes and dry winds. Our Bath Landscape & Irrigation team has worked with Fort Collins homeowners for over 60 years, and we know how a little fall effort can lead to a healthier yard come spring. Following a simple fall landscaping checklist, you can safeguard your lawn, plants, and irrigation systems before the first hard frost arrives.

Understanding how to prep your yard for winter becomes especially important in Northern Colorado, where temperature swings and dry conditions can stress unprepared landscapes. As a family-owned business serving USDA Hardiness Zones 4b-6a, we've learned which preparation steps make the most significant difference for long-term landscape health.

How to Prepare Northern Colorado Yards for Winter

Northern Colorado's climate presents unique challenges that require specific preparation strategies. USDA Hardiness Zones 4b through 6a mean temperatures can dip well below zero, snow may be heavy, and dry winds can stress plants throughout winter. Preparing for winter requires protecting your soil, conserving moisture, and giving your plants the best chance to rebound when spring arrives.

Our Bath Landscape & Irrigation team recommends focusing on four primary areas during fall preparation. Lawn care ensures grass survives dormancy and emerges healthy. Plant protection shields valuable specimens from wind and temperature damage. Irrigation system shutdown prevents costly freeze damage to pipes and components. General cleanup removes debris that can harbor pests and disease.

Each step supports both immediate protection and long-term landscape health. Taking time for thorough fall preparation prevents expensive repairs and replacements while ensuring your outdoor investment grows in value.

Fall Landscaping Checklist for Fort Collins

Here are nine essential tasks to complete before winter to ensure your yard returns healthy in the spring!

Clean Up Leaves and Debris

Leaves left on the lawn can smother grass and invite mold growth, damaging turf throughout winter. Rake, mulch, or compost fallen leaves to keep your yard healthy and functional. Removing debris also reduces hiding spots for pests that overwinter in soil and garden beds, preventing infestations that emerge in spring.

Significant leaf accumulations block sunlight and trap moisture against grass crowns, creating conditions for fungal diseases. Small amounts of chopped leaves can benefit soil as they decompose, but thick layers need removal or redistribution to garden beds where they provide valuable organic matter.

Mow and Fertilize the Lawn

Keep mowing until grass growth stops completely, but lower the mower blade slightly for the season's final cut. Shorter grass is less likely to mat under snow cover, which prevents fungal problems and makes spring cleanup easier. A slow-release fertilizer in late fall helps grass store nutrients through winter dormancy, promoting stronger spring growth and better root development.

Fall fertilization provides nutrients that grass roots can absorb and store during the active fall growing period. Choose fertilizers designed for fall application, typically containing higher potassium levels that improve cold tolerance and disease resistance.

Aerate Compacted Soil

Aeration relieves compacted soil and improves oxygen and nutrient flow to grass roots before winter dormancy begins. In Northern Colorado's clay-heavy soils, aeration proves especially helpful in the fall when roots remain active and can take advantage of improved soil conditions.

Core aeration works best for most lawn types. It removes small soil plugs that allow air, water, and nutrients to penetrate deeper into the root zone. Fall timing allows grass to recover from aeration stress while the weather remains mild, and roots can grow into the newly created spaces.

Protect Perennials and Shrubs

Cut back perennials that die naturally to the ground and add mulch around the base of shrubs to insulate root systems from temperature extremes. Burlap wraps can shield sensitive plants from windburn and desiccation during Colorado's dry winter.

Native and drought-tolerant plant varieties typically need less protection but still benefit from mulching around their base. Focus protection efforts on newer plantings, marginally hardy specimens, and plants in exposed locations that receive full winter wind and sun.

Mulch Garden Beds

A two- to three-inch layer of organic mulch moderates soil temperature, prevents erosion, and locks in soil moisture throughout winter. Straw, shredded leaves, or quality bark mulch all work well in Colorado gardens, providing insulation and slowly decomposing to improve soil structure.

Apply mulch after soil temperatures begin dropping but before hard freezes arrive. Pull mulch slightly away from plant stems and tree trunks to prevent pest problems and moisture buildup that can cause rot or disease.

Water Before the Ground Freezes

Fall watering is often overlooked but provides critical moisture reserves for plant survival. Deep watering before the ground freezes helps trees and shrubs handle winter drought stress, which occurs when roots cannot access frozen soil moisture. Focus watering efforts on evergreens, which lose moisture through their needles year-round and face the greatest winter stress.

Water slowly and deeply, applying moisture to the entire root zone rather than just near the trunk. Watering during warm fall days allows plants to absorb and store moisture before winter dormancy begins.

Shut Down Irrigation Systems

Irrigation system blowouts are essential in Northern Colorado's freezing climate. Frozen pipes and valves can cause costly damage that requires extensive spring repairs. Our Bath Landscape & Irrigation team provides professional system shutdowns that protect your irrigation investment through harsh winter conditions.

Professional blowouts use commercial-grade compressors to remove water completely from all system components. Attempting DIY blowouts with inadequate equipment often leaves residual water that can cause expensive freeze damage to pipes, valves, and sprinkler heads.

Prune Trees Safely

Late fall is a good time to remove dead, damaged, or crossing branches before winter storms arrive. Proper pruning now helps reduce potential storm damage during heavy snow and ice events that stress tree structures. Do you have a giant tree on your property or near your house? Our Bath Landscape & Irrigation team recommends hiring a certified arborist with proper equipment and training for large trees or limbs near structures.

Pruning trees involves removing suckers, water sprouts, and branches that rub against each other. Clean cuts heal better than torn or damaged wood, so use sharp tools and cut just outside the branch collar for the fastest healing.

Prepare Outdoor Features

Drain water features completely, cover outdoor furniture, and store tools in dry, protected locations. Outdoor water features that operate year-round may need special heaters or de-icers to prevent freeze damage, which our design team can advise on during consultation.

Clean and oil tool handles, sharpen blades, and perform maintenance while you have time. Proper tool storage extends equipment life and ensures everything works properly when spring tasks begin.

Skilled Residential Landscaping from Bath Landscape & Irrigation

Since 1965, our Bath Landscape & Irrigation team has helped Northern Colorado homeowners care for their landscapes through every season. We combine local expertise with premium service to protect and enhance your yard investment. From professional irrigation blowouts to mulching and custom fall cleanup services, we provide the knowledge and hands-on care your property needs to thrive.

As a family-owned business with over 60 years of experience in USDA Zones 4b-6a, we understand exactly what Northern Colorado landscapes need for successful winter preparation. Our comprehensive services include landscape design, installation, and seasonal care that keeps your outdoor space healthy and beautiful year-round. We are here to help you winterize your yard so it’s ready to grow in the spring!