Fall yard work isn’t just about clearing away fallen leaves. By weeding your garden, trimming your trees and bushes, and cleaning your tools and patio furniture before winter sets in, you’ll set yourself and your yard up for a happier spring.
Get rid of leaves
Fall is synonymous with leaf cleanup, and that usually means raking. According to most yard-care professionals Wirecutter consulted for our tests of leaf rakes, a sturdy steel-tined model is the way to go, as it offers both durability and leaf-grabbing spring action in the tines. The guide has since been archived, but we still recommend the models from Ames a common brand with a good reputations. Their 2-foot-wide models cover a lot of lawn fast and are built to endure: One of Wirecutter's test rakes lasted for eight seasons.
If you have a big lawn or a lot of trees, the Toro PowerJet F700 is a user-friendly top performer from Wirecutter’s leaf blower review. It’s about as powerful as a gas blower but more compact, much lighter, and more maneuverable; it requires far less maintenance, too. The only downside is that you have to plug it into an outlet. Wirecutter editor Mark Smirniotis and Wirecutter senior staff writer Doug Mahoney tested 55 different extension cords before picking the U.S. Wire & Cable Extreme All-Weather. They write that its all-weather flexibility makes it easier to work with “whether you’re dealing with high summer temps in the Southwest or brutal winter lows in Minnesota.”
If you have a smaller yard but lack easy access to an outdoor outlet, go with the cordless Ego LB6504. Just be aware that its 56-volt rechargeable battery has a run time of less than 20 minutes. For really big jobs, the Stihl BR350 is a gas-powered backpack blower that's favored by lawn-care professionals but still user friendly enough for weekend warriors. It’s totally portable, and it puts the weight on your back rather than your arms, but you’ll need to maintain the gas engine and properly store it for the off-season.
If you have the right lawn mower, you might be able to skip leaf removal entirely. Wirecutter’s reigning pick for the best gas-powered lawn mower, the Honda HRX217K5VKA, has a mulching function that dices leaves (and grass clippings, during the summer) into small shreds. These bits remain on the lawn, where they naturally decompose and nourish the soil—and spare you from lugging the clippings to the curb or your compost heap.
Weed the garden
Although it may be difficult to find motivation in a bed full of dead annuals and resurgent weeds, doing prep work in the fall will help you hit the ground running the following spring. After testing nearly 20 weeding tools for a guide that is now archived, we still recommend the inexpensive Nejiri Gama Hoe for removing unwanted plants. Its short, sharp blade and hooklike shape literally get to the root of the matter, reducing the chance of an unwanted return.
Since you usually do weeding at ground level, a set of knee pads can save you some aches and pains later on. If you don’t care for strapping pads directly onto your knees, a simple kneeling pad works too.
Trim the trees
Heading into winter and the storms that it might bring, fall is a good time to trim off any dead wood from trees and bushes on your property. (For the health of your trees, save the live-branch pruning for late winter, just before the spring sap begins to run.) Wirecutter’s favorite garden pruners, the Felco 2 Classic Hand Pruners, can snip branches and twigs up to about a finger in width. A compact hand saw like the Silky PocketBoy, a favorite of professional arborists, can cut branches up to about wrist diameter. It folds down for safety, and it fits in a hip pocket. For larger cuts, either grab a bigger hand saw, like the Vaughan BS333C Bear Saw, or invest in a chainsaw.
Clean and store your yard gear
Fall is also the time to put away all of your summer equipment, especially if you get freezing temps in the winter. This means lawn and patio furniture, and tools such as shovels, edgers, garden hoses, and wheelbarrows. A pressure washer can dispatch a summer’s worth of caked-on grime and dirt in no time. Wirecutter tested six of them in summer 2018 and picked the electric Ryobi RY142300. Gas-powered models offer more oomph, but the Ryobi is powerful enough and is easier to use and maintain. Wirecutter also appreciated its large wheels, long hose, and low center of gravity, which helps it resist tipping. Alternatively, a garden hose with a spray nozzle and some elbow grease will let you get the job done with a bit more effort.
Don’t forget protection
Whether you're raking, weeding, or tree trimming, you'll need to protect your hands from cuts, scratches, and scrapes. Wirecutter’s favorite gardening gloves, the Atlas Nitrile Garden Gloves, offer enough protection for general use, and because they’re so thin, you still have the dexterity to pluck a small weed or jot something down in a gardening notebook. They come in a pack of six, so you’ll have extras in case you lose a pair.
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