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| Four Seasons Hemet Herald | NOVEMBER 2023 | 9 Fall weather is finally here! Fall is a great time to take a fresh look at what needs doing in your yard to prepare for winter and the coming spring. Cooler weather brings opportunities to: • Plant a winter vegetable garden with potatoes, carrots, squash or beans. • Clean leaves, dead plants, and other debris from planting beds. • Plant California natives and other plants so that they can establish healthy root systems before the summer heat. • Safely trim and/or thin shrubs, roses, and trees. It's best to wait until plants have shed leaves and are dormant before trimming. • Prepare for potential frost by gathering cloths to spread over vulnerable plants. Make room in the garage to take in potted plants before frost strikes. • Fertilize your grass for winter. A touch of fertilizer now will provide much needed potassium and nitrogen to the soil. • Create an action plan for your garden. Also make sure you have the right equipment for the job (sharp pruning shears, a good spade for digging). • Consider replacing sod with a good groundcover such as white star creeper (pratia angulate) or Dymondia margaretae. These plants form a dense mat that doesn't require mowing and uses less water than typical sod. Be sure to check your plan with the Architectural Review Committee before doing any major plant replacement. • Replace dying or struggling shrubs with varieties more suited for our climate such as Yellow bells (tecoma stans) or white sage (salvia apiana). Perhaps the most difficult thing in the fall is to take it easy and have fun. If gardening is not to your liking, get help by hiring a gardener. Even if you only need a gardener for a once-a-month trimming, paying the expert is better than forcing yourself to do it – and do it poorly. For those of us who enjoy the outdoors, sunny-days, mild weather, and watching new things grow make fall gardening the best time of the year. Landscape Committee From le to right: pratia angulate, dymondia, and tacoma stans are great choices for your Hemet yard Facilities Committee It is hard to believe that November has arrived and 2023 is coming to a close. But the holiday season brings a joyous time of year! Projects that were completed in 2023 include painting the stucco surfaces on all seven of our buildings, asphalt removal and repair in several areas and new equipment in the fitness center. Also, street striping for golf carts and bikes have been done to enhance safety on our streets. This is also a time the Facilities Committee makes budget plans for new projects that will be considered for 2024 and beyond. Some of these are on a "wish list" that we believe would be improvements to our community. Cost is a primary consideration before we recommend projects to the Board for their approval. Every month, two committee members make an inspection of an assigned area of the Four Seasons. Their findings are reported to the Committee and are then repaired. Usually, Tim Gross (our maintenance coordinator) is able to take care of these issues. But not always. We may have to bring a contractor in for larger cases. But the idea is to catch problems when they are small and not wait for them to become a bigger problem. The committee welcomes input from residents for suggestions for projects that might improve our quality of living here in the Four Seasons. Please submit these ideas in writing at the front desk in The Lodge. You can also request time at one of the meetings to address the committee on your recommendations. Have a great Thanksgiving!