As fall winds down, get your yard ready for winter

It is a good idea to sharpen and clean garden tools when putting them away for the season.

Sharpen spades with an electric hand grinder and put the bevel on the inside edge of the spades. It is important to wear ear and eye protection for this task, as it is noisy, and sparks fly as the grinder works. Move the grinder steadily back and forth to create the sharp edge and avoid burning the metal.

Well-maintained tools make gardening much easier. Use pegboard on your garage walls to hang and organize tools. If your garage is unheated, store liquids in the basement rather than outdoors.

Have your snowblower serviced before the first measurable snowfall when repair shops may get backed up with repair and maintenance work.

• The lawn mowing season is winding down. It is best to cut the lawn a bit shorter than you have throughout the summer. I lower my mower to 2½ inches for the late fall season and 2 inches for the last cut of the year. There is no need to water established lawns any more this year. Recently sodded lawns may benefit from late-season watering due to the recent unusually warm and dry weather. All sprinkler systems should have been winterized by this time to avoid damage to pipes and sprinkler heads from freezing water.

• Water any plants installed over the last couple of years now to help get them through the winter. The recent dry and unusually warm weather has increased stress on plants installed over the last couple of years. Some plants I had installed in my garden this fall were surprisingly dry this week.

• Tim Johnson is director of horticulture at Chicago Botanic Garden, chicagobotanic.org.