When the leaves have shaken loose from the trees and covered your lawn, you know that fall has arrived. And that means you suddenly have yard maintenance on your to-do list before winter takes hold and temperatures drop.
But before you start to dig into your to-do list, you may want to check the tools you have at your disposal. There may be one or two you don’t have in your garage or shed that could allow you to cut down on clean-up time and allow for more time enjoying all that autumn has to offer.
Leaf Blower
Before you start raking, grab your air-powered leaf blower and start pushing those leaves into piles. This will minimize the amount of raking required to clear your yard of every leaf.
Leaf Grabber
Raking and bagging do not have to be two separate tasks. The ergonomic design of a leaf grabber allows you to rake and scoop leaves at the same time for a more efficient operation.
Reusable Garden Waste Bags
What you bag your leaves in is as important as how you bag them. You don’t have to use standard garbage bags. Reusable garden waste bags can be found in a variety of sizes, and are water-resistant, tear-resistant, and of course environmentally friendly.
Mulchers & Shredder Vacs
To shred your leaves and allow you to pack as much as possible into each bag, invest in a mulcher or shredder vac that allows you to dump the leaves in through the top and dispense the shredded remains into a bag being held at the bottom of the machine.
Lawn Edger
Lawn care extends all the way to the edges. And if you plan to be removing snow from your driveway in a month or two, removing those overgrown edges is critical. A manual edger with a flat edge on the top of the cutter allows you to carefully maintain the edge of your lawn.
Nut Gatherer
Picking up pecans and hickory nuts by hand is a real pain. Some people call them nut gatherers. Others, nut collectors. I personally grew up calling them “pecan picker-uppers”. You can find these handy tools in a variety of configurations. Some roll across the ground, and others require repetitive stamping on the ground to catch nuts in a bin.
The actual system that each of these varieties uses is similar. They use springy steel wires on a frame. These wires shift and allow pecans, hickory nuts and other small nuts to pop through and into the larger cage or bin.
Tip: If you’re looking to harvest hickory nuts, be sure to read up on the types of hickory nuts that are palatable, and learn to identify those trees. Certain species produce nuts that are very bitter.
Pruner
Fall is a great time of year to remove dead or potentially diseased limbs and branches from the plants on your property. If things have already started to dry out, you may be better off opting for a chainsaw. But if it’s early fall and the plants are still pretty green, you can’t beat a good quality pruner to keep your plants beautiful and healthy.
Just remember that fall generally is not the time for routine “cutting back” for most plants. Be sure to research the proper times to prune your specific plants in your specific area. Here are a couple of great resources:
Alabama Extension Gardener’s Calendar
University of Tennessee Extension Website
Pull Saw
Not every tree branch requires a chainsaw. If you need to remove small or medium sized branches, a pull saw is a smaller but aggressive tool with the cutting ability to take care of them.
With the right tools in hand, you’ll find yourself with more spare time than usual after completing your annual round of fall yard maintenance. Your local TriGreen Equipment is happy to help with finding those right tools. We carry handheld power tools from trusted names like STIHL, EGO, ECHO and Shindaiwa.
