Summer's warm, sunny days are beginning to fade into cooler, crisper mornings. Before the fall season settles in, it's time to start preparing your yard for the cold weather that's coming. Because landscaping and property maintenance aren't as demanding in the fall and winter, they're easy to overlook. However, there are some things that your yard can benefit from as the fall weather sneaks in.

Address Seasonal Plants

Your seasonal plants that flourish all summer long will begin to die off through the fall season. Since they are unable to survive the cold temperatures, you'll want to dig them up, ensuring that you get all of the root bed. This reduces the risk of any pests or parasites from lying dormant in the soil, attached to residual root structures all winter long. Otherwise, those things could ultimately spread throughout the soil when the spring thaw restores the plant growth.

Clean Up Leaves And Debris

Throughout the fall season, the trees in your yard will shed lots of leaves, needles and other debris. This can be unsightly. You can rake them up and put them into leaf storage bags to have them preserved for later use. In fact, there are many things you can do with these leaves.

• Hands-On Projects With The Kids - If you have kids, fall leaves are great for hands-on activities. For example, gather some old and worn-out clothing and some twine. With this and some wooden posts, you can create scarecrows. You can also encourage children's exploration by providing them with supplies to create leaf rubbings, wax-preserved leaves and nature collages. You can even create holiday-themed decorations and crafts.

• Yard Decorations - As the fall season settles in, leaf bags printed with jack-o-lantern faces make great decorations for your yard. Fill the bags with leaves, tie them up and then cover the top of the bag in brown tape to resemble a stem.

Treat The Soil To Prepare It For Spring Growth

Have the soil in your yard tested in the late fall so that you can find out what it needs to create an ideal growing environment for the next year. Knowing what it needs now lets you amend the soil before winter so that all of those nutrients have time to work their way in. For example, you might be advised to add some organic compost, sulfur, or lime to the soil for the winter to ensure that your spring plants get the nutrients that they need.

Address Your Cold-Hardy Plants

Any plants in your yard that will winter in place need to be trimmed and treated before the snow falls. This allows for the root system to stay protected and develop over the winter months. Pruning is helpful as well, because it eliminates any damaged sections that may not survive winter weather, and it helps the tree to focus efforts on the strongest sections.

This is also the time to plant some of your spring bulbs. Many spring bulbs should be planted in the fall, such as tulips, bluebells and crocuses.

Add a Layer of Mulch

Spreading mulch is an important final step before the winter weather settles in. The mulch insulates the plant roots and the protects them from the cold temperatures. In addition, it helps your yard to look clean and organized. You can opt for mulch of all kinds, including shredded bark, cedar chips and pine mulch. If you want to re-purpose the leaves that you raked up, they can make an effective mulch layer as well. When placed directly on the soil, those leaves will add nutrients to the ground as they decompose.

Talk to a landscaping services company for additional info.