It is important to remove the leaves and fall debris from our yards so that the lawn can breathe. Chances are, you will have to clean up your yard multiple times throughout the fall and even winter (if there’s no snow on the ground) so that you yard stays healthy. 

So, what’s the best way to clean up your yard and keep it healthy? Here’s our professional opinion. 

  1. Use a Leaf Rake or a Blower
  2. Bag Your Leaves 
  3. Aerate Your Lawn
  4. Overseed Your Lawn
  5. Repeat Raking/Blowing and Bagging when Necessary

Use a Leaf Rake or Blower

A leaf rake and or a blower is the best way to go when it comes to cleaning up the leaves in your yard. A leaf rake is designed for the specific purpose of raking leaves and you probably already own one. If not, they aren’t very expensive and they are an important yard tool to add to your arsenal. Another tool that can be useful is a blower. A blower will help you quickly gather leaves in your yard into a large pile, leaving only a few leaves left to rake up.

Bag Your Leaves

It is important to bag your leaves into yard waste bags after you are finished raking them up so that they don’t disperse back over your yard or end up suffocating the patch of grass they are covering up. An alternative option for disposing of your leaves is to compost them and use them as fertilizer in the spring. Simply pickup some yard waste bags at the store and fill them up. Do not dispose of your leaves in your recycling bin or your trash can. If you have a composting bin, check with your pickup company before adding yard waste to your bin.

Aerate Your Lawn

As time goes on, the thatch in your yard can get thicker and thicker until it is no longer providing a healthy environment for your grass to grow. You may start to notice that your lawn looks thinner than it did a few years ago, but not to worry, there is a simple solution, aeration. Aeration is an important practice and is considered standard maintenance for your yard. We offer core aeration. It is done with a core aerator and is a simply and quick way to aerate your yard. There are plenty of alternatives our there, but many are much more time consuming. 

Overseed Your Lawn

After you have aerated your lawn, it’s time to overseed it. It doesn’t matter that they won’t germinate right now as long as they have a pathway down to the soil to germinate in the spring. 

This is why raking up your leave and aerating your lawn is important. When the seeds germinate in the spring, you will have a luscious looking lawn. If you don’t get around to aerating and overseeding in the Fall, you can always do it in the spring. There isn’t too much of a different between doing it in late fall or early spring, just don’t do it in the winter or summertime. 

Repeat Raking/Blowing and Bagging when Necessary

As the season goes on, you may need to rake/blow and bag your leaves again, especially if you have trees that drop their leaves throughout the entire season or multiple species of trees in your yard, or near your property. If you miss the pickup date or yard waste, check with your city or waste management company to see what they would like you to do with your yard waste. 

If you have any questions about how to keep your yard healthy in the fall, give us a call or send us a message. Happy Fall Cleanup!