When you care for your yard in autumn, you're preparing it to survive the winter and thrive next spring.

One of the basic things you can do is cut your lawn shorter.

A 2-3 inch length is good during summer, but 1 ½ - 2 inches is better in autumn.

"The less amount of grass you have above ground, the less matting there will be and that will help the lawn get off to a better start in the spring if it's not as matted by the snow," says Mike Breunling, chief meteorologist and former landscape designer.

Although it’s getting cooler, you should keep fertilizing your lawn as normal; that is, every 4-6 weeks or so.

When you’re choosing a fertilizer, look for a series of three numbers on the front of the package near the bottom.

The first refers to nitrogen, the second to phosphorus, and the last to potassium.

"This time of year, you want to put down a fertilizer that's going to be highest in the nitrogen because, again, that provides your greening and perhaps then second highest would be potassium, because that also helps to promote good, sturdy, quality root growth," says Breunling.

You may also want to consider spreading lime on your lawn if you haven’t done it already this season.

"What lime will do is help to adjust the pH of the soil so that the soil pH is a little bit more on the basic side," says Breunling.

That will make nutrients more available to the grass, contributing to a healthier lawn before winter sets in.

You should also make sure that your leaves are raked up before the snow flies.

“If a lot of leaves are left on the lawn, then that can get compacted on top of the lawn with the snow and that can cause some problems for the lawn, browning out and stuff,” says Breunling.

Don’t neglect the little leaves that fall from your flowering trees and shrubs, either.

You should make sure those are raked up and taken away; otherwise, any disease that's on the leaves will get into the soil and could return to the tree in the spring.

Avoid pruning your flowering trees and shrubs and even evergreen shrubs during the autumn.

"If you start trimming them heavily in the fall, you might start inducing more growth to occur and that growth will be very tender and might freeze during the winter," says Breunling.

If you prune, you may also be cutting off next years flower buds.

Just like your lawn, you also may want to fertilize your trees and shrubs, and you can do that with granulated fertilizer or fertilizer stakes, depending on the size and needs of the plant.

And even though it's autumn, you still need to make sure your lawn, trees, and shrubs get an inch of water per week, especially if you use fertilizer.

That way, they'll have the moisture that will help them through the winter.