October has arrived and your yard is doing its thing: making some tea, curling up with a good book and preparing to snooze for the winter. But wait! There’s important work to do before bedtime.

Taking some simple steps will best prepare your landscaping for its long winter’s nap and ensure it’s in good shape to bounce back awake with the arrival of spring.

And a healthy landscape means a less-thirsty landscape —  one that won’t need as much water to revive your grass, plants and trees.

Here at TAP, we tapped into a member of the Associated Landscape Contractors of Colorado, Phil Steinhauer, of Designscapes Colorado in Centennial, to give some advice and do a little show-and-tell on video.

Check out these — and other tips — at Denver Water's Instagram page, and give us a follow while you're there. 

Tip one: Cut the run time on your irrigation system. This begins to apply as the weather starts to cool in September. Cooler nights and shorter days mean your landscape can do fine on a less water. This saves money too.

Tip two: Check your irrigation system before winter shut-down. All that popping up, spraying and rotating can throw sprinklers out of adjustment. Since we often run our systems in the early morning, when we might not see them at work, this is a good chance to make sure you don’t have a busted sprinkler head, or one watering the asphalt.

Tip three: Now is a good time to mulch. The added material will insulate and protect roots over the cold winter, and it holds moisture in the soil, further protecting plants. And, come spring, it has the added benefit of limiting weeds.

Tip four: Prune those dead branches on trees and shrubs. Early fall is a good time for that, as the leafless areas are easier to contrast with healthier parts, so you know where best to prune back.

Pruning in the fall also puts less stress on the plant and reduces the chance of disease, with cooler temperatures and shorter days. Cutting off the deadwood also opens up more access for light to reach the plant, another benefit.

Tip five: Aerate your lawn. It’s probably easiest to hire someone with an aeration machine to poke dozens of finger-sized holes in the grass. Those holes help oxygen, water and nutrients penetrate the soil and get to the roots. That means a healthier, less-thirsty lawn come spring. Also: It’s OK to leave the little dirt cylinders on the grass. They’ll compost.

Tip six: Blowout your sprinkler and drain your backflow device before the freezing weather hits. Getting the water out of your irrigation system prevents water from freezing and subsequently cracking. That, in turn, prevents leaks and wasting water come next spring. Also, blowing out water through your sprinkler heads represents one more chance to observe any broken heads or misdirected water.