Top 10 Fall Clean Up Mistakes We Make

With the start of cooler temperatures and the approach of Winter, many homeowners give up on their lawn. What's the point of caring for a lawn that will soon be covered by snow anyway? Below are the top 10 mistakes people make that create a damaged landscape come Spring:
10. Preparing too Soon
Yes, the weather is getting cooler and the kids are back in school, but that doesn't mean that the weatherman is predicting snow tomorrow. Doing a Fall Clean Up too soon, will only mean that you'll have to repeat the chores several times. Wait until most of the leaves are on the ground before your Fall Clean up is done, otherwise you'll be raking every day this Fall.
9. Leaving the garden hose outdoors.
When preparing for winter, most people don't think twice about the garden hose. It's meant to stay outdoors, right? Well, not exactly. In the summer, that hose was durable enough to hold dormant water and kinks. But as the plastic gets hard in the freezing temperatures, that hose is less flexible and those things will develop holes. Come Spring, that holey hose will be next to useless.
8. Leaving diseased plants and rotted fruits and vegetables in the yard.
It is true that those unsightly items will disappear under the snow, but they are also an excellent home for bacteria, and insect eggs during the winter. That unsightly plant will become an even grosser mess in the spring.
7. Not cleaning out gutters.
In the Fall, your gutter becomes home to many fallen leaves, which then clog your gutter and prevent it from working as snow piles on your roof and melts. The result is too much weight on your gutter, which can cause it to break or fall off. Just don't forget to wait to clean them out until after all the leaves have fallen or you're not doing yourself any favors.
6. Not trimming trees.
Branches that hang over your roof or power lines may be fine now, but once they are weighed down by snow, they can cause more damage than you bargained for. Just make sure to consult with your landscaper, because overtrimming trees or trimming them too close to a frost can seriously damage your tree.
5. Turning off the outdoor water supply too soon.
With New England weather, not turning off the water supply is just asking for a pipe to burst. But if you stop watering your lawn too soon, and you could kill the grass, just when it was getting strong. With the sunlight and cool weather of Fall, grass roots grow deeper, preparing for the hard winter. This is the time when grass gets strong, which means it's important to water up until the first frost.
4. Not Mulching
We are so quick to mulch in the Spring, to enhance the look of our landscape, but mulching in the Fall is important as well, because mulch provides more to your garden than just looks. Mulch in the cold weather will insulate plant beds, regulate the temperature, and provide important nutrients.
3. Not Fertilizing
As the roots grow deeper into the soil, preparing for winter, fertilizing your lawn now will further strengthen the grass, so it will be stronger in the Spring.
2. Not Raking or Dethatching
Leaves that are left on the lawn become matted down under the snow. This can cause them to smother the lawn, allowing no air to get to the grass.
1. Worrying About Every Last Leaf
Although you do not want a bed of leaves to suffocate your grass, leaves can provide nutrients, so don't worry if you raked and then your tree decided to drop its last few leaves. This will actually be good for your lawn.