How to…Prepare Your Garden For Spring This Fall
This is a great time to get a jump on enjoying the outdoors next spring. Just follow some of these suggestions before you settle in for the winter, and you'll be among the first to benefit when warm days return.

1. Rake debris from your yard and garden, but don't dispose of all your fallen leaves.
Gather leaves and place them around your most fragile plants. You can also shred leaves with your lawn mower to create a natural mulch fertilizer for your lawn or garden. Then put some aside to contribute to your compost pile throughout the winter. Add them to layers of kitchen greens, grass clippings and dried brush and soil to create an excellent nutritional supplement for your garden. Alternatively, if you simple let leaves mixed with dirt or water rot in a plastic bag over the winter, and occasionally churn the mixture, you'll have a fine batch of leaf mould to mix with your compost or planting soil in spring.

2. Dig new flower beds and yard borders before the ground gets hard.
This is a great time to plan your spring garden, and give your yard new definition. Prepare the earth now to give your garden space for more flowers. In the spring with less space devoted to grass, you'll have fewer overall maintenance requirements and fewer resources that will be needed for your lawn next year.

3. Get planting before the weather turns too cold.
You can plant many hardy perennials and flowering bushes in the fall, when their growth is less active, and they are less likely to be stressed by extremely hot or cold weather. Fall is also the time to plant spring bulbs like crocuses, narcissuses, hyacinths, tulips and daffodils. Check with your garden center to ensure your timing, exposure and species are ideal for maximum enjoyment. Position your bulbs to enhance your window sightlines, and water all new plants regularly, right up until the cold sets in - you're going to love them in just a few shirt months!

4. Get more sunshine.
Tour your yard and determine the sun's spring path. Then make planting decisions that will maximize direct sunlight exposure for your bulbs. Trim away dead or unnecessary branches that may cast shadows over your flowerbeds a few months from now (don't forget, the days will start growing longer again in late December). Generally speaking, you should have evergreens on the north, to protect you from the high sun's peak summer heat, and to allow winter and spring sunshine through. Remember, if you can make sure you get every ray of sun that comes your way, you'll be the first to enjoy the arrival of spring.

How to…Extend Your Summer Nights
Ever since gas barbecues hit the scene, there have been a lot of new products on the market to help homeowners enjoy the great outdoors even as the weather turns cooler. Take a look at what patio restaurants are doing to keep their customers coming to outdoor patios in the fall. -They are now using deck awnings and tents for much more than just sin protection…by adding side panels and installing portable outdoor deck heaters, their customers can enjoy many more nights outdoors. Take a look at your deck configuration and see whether you too can continue to entertain outdoors well into the fall.

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