Fall is here and the weather it brings is out in full force in Camas, Vancouver, and Washougal, Washington. Fall often gives us endless amounts of rain, wind, and various other weather events that keep us landscapers incredibly busy. With the stormy weather that autumn brings, there is often a lot of cleanup that needs to happen afterward. This blog will discuss a brief list of items to consider for your storm season cleanup.
Trees and Branches
The best place to start when evaluating your landscape after a storm is to inspect any trees you may have on your property. Wind and heavy rain (as well as freezing temperatures) can easily adversely affect your trees and branches. These types of conditions can pose a threat to people, pets and property, so it is important for any good checklist of storm season cleanups to start with this task. Its a small, simple task that can easily be overlooked. Walk around your property looking for any sign of damage to the trees or broken branches. If you notice anything, make note of it and, depending on the extremity of the situation, contact a professional to have it addressed as soon as poissible. One way to ensure your trees have a better chance at survival is to properly care for them by encouraging healthy root growth by fertilzing and mulching yearly. Another important task to complete yearly is to trim and prune trees properly to ensure healthy growth.
Cleaning Up Debris
One of the most time-consuming parts of a storm cleanup is dealing with all of the debris. Sometimes there is so much debris, it’s hard to comprehend where it all came from. High winds strew leaves, trash, branches and various other items throughout our properties. Collecting all of this debris can be a hassle. A great first step is to collect any trash that may have blown its way into your yard and dispose of it in a proper manner. Next, picking up and removing any branches to get them out of the way of raking. Lastly, rake up all of the leaves and other plant debris and either put it in a compost bin or take it to a recycling center.
Water
The average annual rainfall in Washington State is about 39 inches and the annual rainfall in Camas is about 61 inches. It goes without saying that, as Washingtonians, we see quite a bit of rain. But, it’s what helps to keep our state green and beautiful all year round. That being said, water tends to have many negative impacts on our homes, and landscapes, particularly during heavy storms. Standing water pooling after a heavy rain often carries pathogens from sewer systems and chemicals from vehicles and pesticides; all of which can potentially impact our health negatively. Flooding, in general, can have dire consequences for your landscape and your home. Oftentimes, standing water that forms on your property means that you have an issue with runoff. Put another way, the water that falls around your property has no path of leaving your property so it simply pools. One great way to help combat and further minimize this issue is to plant hydrophilic or “water-loving” plants. A large abundance of standing water, however, needs to be more radically addressed. Don’t fret, though, there are many options which may include rock gardens, backfilling and regrading, French drains or sump pumps.
Storm season can be a hassle to deal with. Urban Eden Landscaping has all of the necessary tools and experience to efficiently care for all of your landscape needs. Contact us today or fill out a FREE estimate request form!