Why Fall Cleanups Matter for Your Property
Fall cleanup is about more than improving the appearance of your property. Managing leaves and seasonal debris before winter can help protect your lawn, keep landscape beds maintained, and make spring cleanup much easier.
Here's why fall cleanup is an important part of seasonal property maintenance.
Protect Your Lawn From Heavy Leaf Coverage
A small amount of leaves on your lawn isn't necessarily a problem, but thick layers of leaves can become matted as they get wet. This can block sunlight and reduce airflow to the turf underneath.
Managing heavy leaf coverage before winter helps prevent leaves from sitting on the lawn underneath snow for several months.
Consider Leaf Mulching
Not every leaf needs to be removed from your property. Leaf mulching is another effective way to manage leaves when the conditions and amount of leaf coverage are appropriate.
During leaf mulching, leaves are chopped into small pieces and returned to the lawn, where they gradually decompose. This recycles organic matter and nutrients back into the soil while reducing the amount of material that needs to be collected and hauled away.
For properties with heavier leaf coverage, a combination of mulching and removal may be necessary.
Clean Up Landscape Beds
Fall is also a good time to remove excessive leaves, weeds, sticks, and other debris from landscape beds. This keeps beds maintained going into winter and makes it easier to evaluate the condition of plants, mulch, and other landscape features.
Not all plant material needs to be removed in the fall. What should be cut back or left in place depends on the type of plant and the needs of the landscape.
Identify Problems Before Winter
Cleaning up the property also gives you a better view of your lawn, trees, shrubs, and landscape beds. This is a good opportunity to look for dead or damaged branches, declining plants, thin areas of turf, drainage issues, or other concerns that may need attention.
Even if a project can't or doesn't need to be completed in the fall, identifying the issue now can help with planning for spring.
Make Spring Maintenance Easier
Leaves, sticks, and debris left behind in fall don't disappear over winter. Once the snow melts, that material still needs to be addressed.
Completing a fall cleanup means less accumulated debris to deal with in spring and gives your property a cleaner starting point for the next growing season.
What Can a Fall Cleanup Include?
Depending on the property fall cleanup services may include:
Power blowing debris out of garden beds
Weeding garden beds
Cutting back perennial material from garden beds
Removing leaf & grass debris from garden beds
Shrub pruning
Garden edging
String trimming of weeds in hard surfaces
Stick edging of all hardscape lines
Applying garden bed fertilizer
Installing mulch
Final once-over to ensure all debris from these services is removed
The right approach will depend on the amount of leaf coverage, the plants on the property, and the overall condition of the lawn and landscape.
Schedule Your Fall Cleanup
Your Personal Gardener & Arborist offers fall cleanup services for properties throughout Southeastern Wisconsin and Northern Illinois. If you're unsure whether your leaves should be mulched, removed, or both, our team can help determine the best approach for your property.
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