How To Clean Up Leaves In Yard

As fall approaches, certain preparations must be made to your lawn to avoid damage over winter and to ensure that your grass still looks beautiful when it comes around to spring. Most importantly, you must ensure that there are no leaves left lying on your yard. This is because the leaves will block the sunlight from reaching the grass, effectively suffocating your lawn. Unfortunately, removing leaves from your yard can be a time consuming and challenging process. Doing it the right way can offer many benefits for your grass, but using the wrong methods can cause long term damage.

In this guide, we'll look at the best method of cleaning your lawn, and our recommendations for how to effectively remove leaves from your yard. By following these tips, you can promote better health for your grass as it lies dormant during winter. Next spring, you will be greeted with a healthy, beautiful lawn.

"Removing leaves from your yard may sound like a tedious activity, but it doesn't have to be hard. Chances are, you already have the tools in your garage to remove leaves, and if you don't, you can easily find them at a hardware or home improvement store."

Removing leaves from your yard may sound like a tedious activity, but it doesn't have to be hard. Chances are, you already have the tools in your garage to remove leaves, and if you don't, you can easily find them at a hardware or home improvement store.

Before you start planning, understand that you may need special equipment to get the job done right. Many home improvement stores offer specialized landscaping equipment for a daily or hourly rental fee, but you may consider working with professionals to guarantee quality work.

Fortunately, many of the tools you'll need to remove leaves from your yard may already be in your garage.

When you think of leaf removal, the standard rake probably pops in your head. This is an essential tool for preparing your lawn during the fall months, but it isn't the only thing you'll need to do the job – we'll talk about other tools you may need and how they will play a role in removing leaves from your yard.

Let's get started.

Leaf Blowers

Leaf blowers are one of the most versatile landscaping tools you can buy. Homeowners and landscapers use them for dozens of tasks, including yard clean up.

In general, leaf blowers are easy to use. They don't require specialized training and are safe if you use them properly. They are one of the best tools in your arsenal if you want to remove fallen leaves from your lawn.

Before you go out and buy a leaf blower to clean your lawn, understand when it's the right time to use one versus a more appropriate landscaping tool.

For example, a leaf blower is most suitable when you want to remove the leaves from your lawn, and you're not worried about disposing of the clippings quickly.

Leaf blowers don't make it easy to pick up debris and clippings, but they're one of the best tools for rapidly clearing your grass of dead leaves. If you're worried about picking up the clippings right away, we recommend using a shop vac instead of a leaf blower for your yard.

When you use a shop vac, you can clean up the leaves as rapidly as with a leaf blower, but you don't have to worry about clean up later. On the other hand, shop vacs have limited capacity, and if your lawn is exceptionally large, it may fill up with leaves too quickly.

If you're using a leaf blower to start your fall lawn care routine, try using it alongside tarps to make cleanup easier.

Fire up your leaf blower and start in the farthest left-hand corner of your lawn. Start blowing the leaves into a pile, onto a tarp near the edges.

Once you blow the leaves on a tarp, it will only take a few minutes to clean up and dispose of the clippings. To do this, fold the tarp over the leaves, hold it together tightly, and carefully drag it away.

We recommend composting any leaves you pick up during your fall maintenance routine. The leaves can make an excellent compost, which you can use the following year as soil for your garden.

Mulch Your Leaves

If your lawnmower has a grass catcher, fall is the time to unhook it.

When your lawn is covered with leaves, it isn't necessary to remove them before you mow. In fact, mowing over the leaves can create a nutritional mulch-like substance for your lawn that provides all-natural fertilization during the fall and winter months.

Ideally, you should cut your leaf debris into dime-size pieces for it to be effective mulch. When you can see about half an inch of grass above the mulched layer of leaves, you're finished.

It's interesting how mulched leaves help lawns as the clippings go through their natural life cycle. Leaf bits will begin to settle into the soil and microorganisms will start the decomposition process. This composts the leaf clippings into exceptional food for your lawn, making fallen leaves a valuable (yet often overlooked) resource for your yard.

The best part about mulching leaves?

You don't need fancy equipment to do it.

Any standard mower can be a useful tool for mulching. If you have a model with a side discharge option, you'll have an easier time mulching your leaves then you would with other types of mowers.

Start by mowing your lawn in stripes so you can go over the discharged leaf clippings from your previous passes, further reducing them in size and making them more effective mulch. Mowing your lawn in concentric circles is another effective way to cut and re-cut the leaf debris.

Depending on the model you have, you can set your mower to 'mulch' when you start your leaf disposal process. This setting works best if your grass is at a normal height and your leaves aren't too dry. Leaves with a moderate amount of moisture are the best candidates for mulching.

Start by inserting the mulch plug into your mower and closing the side discharge port. Once you've done this, mow your lawn as you would normally and after your first pass, start a second pass at a right angle to the first. This will let you mulch your clippings back into the grass with ease.

Use a Hand Rake

So far, we've only discussed leaf removal methods that require some special equipment. These methods can make leaf removal faster and easier, but there's nothing wrong with using the old fashioned way of raking leaves by hand.

Hand Rakes are affordable tools available at any home improvement store. It usually takes more time to rake your lawn then it does to use a leaf blower or a lawn mower to remove leaves, but you can do a very thorough job without missing parts of your lawn.

Raking leaves can be challenging work, but there are a few things you can do to make the job faster and easier.

Buy the Right Rake

Start by buying a quality rake. You might have in old rake in your garage, but it may not be as effective or efficient as a newer model. It might seem strange, but the rake has evolved over the past few years, and the best models at your local home improvement store may offer an easier experience than the one you've had for years.

Find a rake with an ergonomic handle and a lightweight design. If your rake is too heavy, it'll take too much energy to get the job done. If it isn't comfortable to hold and to use, it will increase the strain on your shoulders and back, making leaf removal much harder than it needs to be.

Choose a rake with a wide end. The wider your rake, the more leaves you can pick up with every sweep. If your rake is too narrow, it can take you much longer than you expect to finish raking your yard, which you can easily avoid by buying the right model.

Find the Right Posture

Once you've found your ideal rake, practice proper body position to make the job easier. We get it – when you think of proper body position in this context, you might wonder why it matters if you aren't playing a round of golf or tennis. After all, it's just raking.

However, raking your lawn can take a lot of physical effort. If you don't position your body the right way, you can increase strain on your joints in hands, making you uncomfortable.

Your hand positioning is vital when you hold a rake. You should grasp it with both of your hands and reverse their positions regularly to reduce strain. You should hold your hands on the handle with a distance between them to maximize stability. When you hold a rake correctly it will give you more power with each sweep.

Try to keep your knees bent while you rake and don't bend too much at the waist. When you bend at your knees instead of your waist, you take the strain off your back and hips.

Rake in the Right Direction

As you rake, it's essential to do so in the right direction, so you don't push your leaves somewhere you've already worked. If you don't rake in the right direction, you can push leaves where you don't want them, making your leaf removal process take longer than it needs to.

We recommend moving backward as you rake. By taking small steps back and raking leaves towards you as you sweep your lawn, you can avoid spreading leaves where you don't want to. You should try to make neat piles at the edge of your yard.

Take it slow while you rake. There's no rush – the more thorough you are with each sweep, the less often you'll need to do leaf removal.

Use a Tarp for Removal

If you have a tarp, canvas cloth, or sheet that you're not using, you can use it to transport dead leaves away from your lawn after you rake.

Before you start raking your lawn, find a tarp or similar piece of material that you don't mind covering with dead leaves.

Lay it on the ground near your yard where you plan to rake. As you sweep the rake across your lawn, be sure to push the leaves on to the tarp for easy cleanup.

Try raking one area of your lawn onto the tarp until it's full. Once it's full, gently grab each edge to close it and drag it wherever you're disposing of your leaves.

Raking leaves into yard bags is another efficient way to get rid of them. Yard bags make it easy to transport leaves to your compost or mulch pile, as opposed to a tarp or a sheet.

Once your leaves are in bags, try stomping them down. It sounds like a weird suggestion, but stomping on your leaves will give you more room to add more clippings. This will help you get the most out of your yard bags.

Final Thoughts

Before you start raking or mulching leaves, make sure you're doing it at the right time. We know – you want your lawn to be beautiful all the time, and as soon as you see the trees littering your yard, you want to collect the clippings.

However, waiting for the right time can make a huge difference in your fall lawn care routine.

If you rake or mulch leaves too early, you'll have to repeat the process until the season is over. If the trees are only beginning to drop their leaves, you've got a few weeks before you should start cleaning them from your property.

We recommend waiting until the trees on your property are almost completely bare before you start raking. If you have the time, raking before this can make it easier to clean up once the rest of the leaves fall, but if you want to save as much time as possible, save your removal strategies for when your property needs it. Good luck!