Preparing your commercial landscape for winter is essential, both to get through what can be — depending on the climate in which you live —challenging winter months, and to be well-prepared for next year's growing season.
Landscape maintenance in advance of snow season means distinct things in different climates, and the urgency of your preparatory work may well depend on the severity of winter where your commercial property is located. But assuming you must deal with some combination of snow, ice, freezing rain, or other severe winter weather, adequate prep cannot be dismissed.
The tips below suggest a number of tasks that may be necessary to complete before deep winter sets in.
Ensuring you have drained any water that may freeze is vital before cold temperatures set in. This may mean draining hoses and fountains, checking gutters for standing water, deactivating and potentially storing sprinkler and irrigation systems, and otherwise preparing any areas that store water and are uninsulated.
Forgetting about this can be a nightmare. Fountains or other water features may crack and endure severe damage due to freezing water. Pipes and hoses may crack or burst, necessitating significant replacements during the following year. Staying on top of this particular task will help to avoid costly work and major personal headaches come next spring.
While most of the outdoor plants on your commercial landscape are ideally acclimated to the temperatures in your region, some may need a little extra attention. In some cases it may be useful to cover certain plantings, to give them a little extra warmth in the coldest part of the year(particularly if you're in an area that freezes inconsistently).
It is also possible that potted plants or other house plants have been set outside in the warmer months — in which cases, these should be removed to an interior space where they can survive the winter.
If your commercial property maintains outdoor seating, tables, or other temporary features, you may want to bring these indoors for winter. Outdoor furniture is more likely to become damaged, dirty, or even collapse under the weight of heavy winter snows and rains. Safely and neatly storing furniture and other relevant fixtures inside will allow you to easily set them up again come next year.
Making adequate winter preparations in the fall does not mean that landscape maintenance can be neglected over the next several months. On the contrary, winter maintenance requires an additional set of tools and preparations to keep your property healthy and tenants comfortable during the coldest part of the year.
