Gutters
The important clean of the year is after the leaves are down. A full gutter is heavy enough to take its own fasteners with it, and the water it sends over the front edge lands where you least want it. From $64.95 on single storey homes.
Lawn and property care guide · North Alabama
Leaves, fall cleanup and getting a property through winter
Why a heavy leaf layer costs a lawn its spring, what a cleanup actually covers, and the jobs that are easier once the trees are bare.
Leaves
Depth is the problem, not the presence of leaves
A light scattering that gets chopped by the mower is harmless and returns organic matter to the soil. A heavy layer blocks light, holds moisture against the crowns and mats down after rain.
What comes out from under a matted leaf layer in spring is thin, yellow, or gone entirely, and it is one of the few lawn problems that is completely preventable with nothing but timing. The lawn underneath is dormant, not dead, and it does not need much - but it does need light and air.
The matting is the specific mechanism. Dry leaves sitting loose do relatively little; the same leaves after a week of November rain form a wet sheet that seals the surface. That is why leaving it all until the last leaf has fallen is worse than it sounds - the first load has been down for a month by then.
Most properties here want at least two passes: one while the leaves are still coming down, and a final one once the trees are bare. Waiting for a single perfect clean-up date is a false economy.
The cleanup
What a spring or fall cleanup covers
It is the reset that gets a property from one season into the next: leaves and limbs cleared from the lawn, the beds and the hard surfaces, beds tidied, edges recut, and the debris taken away.
Cleanups start at $75 and are quoted after we have seen the property, because the difference between a small yard and one under mature hardwoods is enormous. Booking early matters more than people expect: everybody in the county wants the same three weeks in November. See leaf removal and seasonal cleanup.
- Leaves cleared from turf, beds and hard surfaces rather than blown from one to the other
- Limbs and storm debris picked up
- Beds tidied and the edges recut, so the shape of the property comes back
- Drives, walks and patios blown clear
- The debris hauled away, not left in a pile at the curb
The lawn itself
What a dormant lawn needs, and what it does not
Almost nothing, and that is not laziness - it is the correct answer. A dormant warm-season lawn is not growing and not losing much water.
Overseeding for winter color is a genuine choice rather than a rule. Ryegrass will give you a green lawn through the cool months, and it competes with your Bermuda or zoysia in spring exactly when they are trying to come out of dormancy. Plenty of home lawns are better off accepting the dormant tan color, which is normal, temporary, and costs the lawn nothing.
- Stop feeding warm-season grass well before the first frost. Late nitrogen produces soft growth that cannot harden off, and that reliably increases winter injury
- Feed tall fescue in fall. It runs on the opposite clock and this is its season
- Get the fall pre-emergent down as soil cools through the mid-fifties. This is the application that decides how many winter weeds you have in March
- Almost no watering, and never during a freeze. Ice on walks is a hazard, and lines and heads split when what is left in them freezes
- Keep traffic off frosted grass. Walking on frozen blades breaks them, and the tracks show for weeks
The rest of the property
The jobs that are easier with the leaves off
Winter is when a property is easiest to see and easiest to work on, and several jobs are genuinely better done now than in June.
Christmas light installation belongs to the same season, and the installation weeks are a short window that fills. Enquiries from late summer onward are normal and the best dates go first. Installation, keeping them running, takedown and storage are all part of the job - see Christmas light installation.
Pressure washing
Our humidity grows algae and mildew on shaded concrete right through the winter, and a north-facing walk goes green faster than one in the sun. From $95.
Structural pruning
Easier when the shape of a plant is visible. Which plants can be cut now depends on whether they flower on old wood or new - cut a spring-flowering shrub in February and you have removed the flowers.
Into spring
What fall decides about next year
More of next spring is settled in October and November than in any other part of the year, which is why fall is the season worth getting right.
The fall pre-emergent decides the winter weeds. Burweed - the sticker weed that hurts bare feet in April - germinates now and forms its spines months later, so by the time anybody notices it the useful window has closed. Fescue seeded in September has a winter and a spring behind it before its first Alabama summer; fescue seeded in March does not.
And the leaves that come off now are the difference between a lawn that greens up evenly in April and one that comes out of winter in patches. None of that is dramatic work. It is just work that only counts if it happens on time.
Answers
Questions about fall and winter guide
Do leaves hurt grass if they stay all winter?
A heavy layer does. It blocks light, holds moisture against the crowns and mats down after rain, and what comes out from under it in spring is thin or gone. A light scattering chopped by the mower is harmless.
What is included in a fall cleanup?
Leaves and limbs cleared from the lawn, beds and hard surfaces, beds tidied and edges recut, and the debris hauled away. Cleanups start at $75.
When should I book leaf removal?
Most properties want a pass while the leaves are still falling and a final one once the trees are bare. Book early - everybody in the county wants the same three weeks.
Should I fertilize before winter?
Not warm-season grass. Feeding stops well before the first frost, because late nitrogen produces soft growth that cannot harden off and that increases winter injury. Tall fescue is the opposite and is fed in fall.
Should I overseed for winter color?
It is a choice rather than a rule. Ryegrass gives a green lawn through winter, and it competes with your Bermuda or zoysia in spring exactly when they are coming out of dormancy.
When should gutters be cleaned?
Twice a year suits most properties here, with the important one after the leaves come down. A house under heavy tree cover, particularly pines, often wants more.
Read next
Related reading
Leaf Removal and Seasonal Cleanup
A service HRH Lawn Care handles.
Gutter Cleaning
A service HRH Lawn Care handles.
North Alabama Seasonal Lawn Care Calendar
From the lawn and property care guide.
Drought, Heat Stress and Lawn Dormancy
From the lawn and property care guide.
HRH Lawn Care Services
Not sure what your property needs?
Call and ask. We would rather come and look at it than guess over the phone, and it does not cost you anything either way.