Fall Yard Cleanup Checklist for a Western Montana Property

How should you use this checklist?

Walk the whole property once before you pick up a tool. Start at the street, go around the house, then out to the edges, and note what you see in each area. The point of the walk is to find the jobs that are easy to forget because they are not in front of you: the corner behind the shed, the low spot by the downspout, the hose still attached on the side of the house nobody uses.

Then sort the list into two piles. One pile is work that depends on the trees finishing their drop and can wait a week or two. The other is work that has to be finished before a hard freeze no matter what the trees are doing. If you want the reasoning behind that order, including fertilizer, aeration and irrigation timing, it is laid out in fall leaf removal and storm prep. This checklist is the part you carry around the yard.

What needs doing on the lawn?

Check how much of the grass you can still see. University of Minnesota turfgrass staff put the tolerable level at roughly 10 to 20 percent of the lawn covered by leaves going into winter, and list three problems above that: smothered grass, snow mold, and more damage from voles and mice. University of Wisconsin Extension gives the practical version. A moderate layer can be chopped up with the mower and left, and a layer thick enough that you can barely see grass needs at least half of it removed first.

So the lawn items are: clear the leaves off the open turf, then go back for the places they collect, which are fence lines, the base of hedges, window wells, and the lee side of anything solid. Keep mowing until the grass stops growing. North Dakota State University Extension recommends a final cut at two inches, because tall grass is more likely to mat down and be infected by snow mold. Pick up fallen branches, dog toys, and anything else that will sit on the grass for months. Last, note any bare or thin patches now, while you can see them, so you know where to look in spring.

What should come out of the beds, and what stays?

Work through each bed with one question: does this material stand up or lie down? Stems and seed heads that stand through winter can stay. Anything that has collapsed into a wet layer over the crowns of plants should come out, along with the leaves that have blown in and packed around shrub bases.

Add three smaller checks. Pull out annuals that are finished, including what is left in pots and planters. Remove anything that was visibly diseased this year and take it off the property; Wisconsin Extension notes that fallen diseased leaves carry spores that can infect next year's growth. And look at the edges of each bed, since leaves and soil that have spilled onto the lawn or the walk are easier to deal with now than after they have frozen in place.

What should you check on trees and shrubs?

Stand back from each tree and look up, then look at what is underneath it. You are looking for dead limbs, anything cracked or hanging, and branches resting on or reaching over a roof, a driveway, or the spot where a vehicle is parked all winter. Write down which tree and which side. Leaf drop makes this much easier, so it is worth repeating the look once the canopy is bare.

At ground level, clear leaves and debris away from the base of trunks and shrubs so nothing is holding moisture against the bark. Check that stakes and ties on young trees are not cutting in. Shrubs beside a path or under an eave where snow slides off are worth noting too. Anything that needs a saw above shoulder height belongs on a separate list for tree services, and structural work on deciduous trees fits the dormant pruning window after the leaves are down.

Hard surfaces and drainage

Walk every paved and gravel surface: driveway, walks, patio, steps. Leaves left on these turn slick and hide ice later, so they are part of the cleanup rather than an afterthought. Sweep or blow them off, and clear the joints and edges where material has packed in.

Then follow the water. Look at where each downspout lets out and make sure the outlet and the ground below it are clear. Find any drain grates, swales, culvert ends and low spots at grade and clear the leaves off them, because a blocked drain sends meltwater somewhere you did not plan for. Gutters and roof valleys matter for the same reason. They are a separate job from yard cleanup and one we do not perform, so put them on the list as their own line and arrange them with someone who does that work.

Tools, hoses and furniture

This is the section that gets skipped because it does not look like yard work. Disconnect and drain every hose, including the ones on the far side of the house, and store them. If the property has an irrigation system, the sprinkler blowout needs to be on the calendar before a hard freeze. Empty and store watering cans, rain gauges, and anything else that holds water and can crack.

Move furniture, cushions, grills and planters to wherever they will spend the winter, and do it before the cleanup rather than after so the ground under them gets cleared too. Bring in or tie down anything light enough to blow around. Clean the mower deck and hand tools before they are put away, and set the snow shovel and ice melt where you can reach them without crossing the yard.

What could a plow or shovel hit?

Walk the edge of every surface that will be cleared of snow and look for anything low: sprinkler heads, valve boxes, path lights, bed edging, the corners of pavers, the ends of a culvert, and the real edge of a gravel drive where it meets grass. Each one gets a marker while the ground is still soft enough to push a stake in.

Decide where the snow will be piled as part of the same walk, and check that the spot is not a planted bed, a drain, or the base of a young tree. Move anything stored along the driveway edge that would be in the way. The details of what gets damaged and how responsibility is usually handled are in our guide to snow plow damage prevention.

Which items are worth handing to a crew?

Look back at your list and mark the lines that need a trailer, a ladder, a compressor, or more hours than you have before the weather turns. For most properties that is the bulk leaf removal and hauling, the bed cutbacks, and anything in the trees. The small items around tools, hoses and furniture are quick to do yourself and are best done by the person who knows where everything goes.

A list made this way also makes it simpler to get help. Our fall cleanup service covers the leaf and debris removal, the bed cleanup, cutting back spent plant material and a general tidy, with the leaves hauled away. The rest of what we do at this time of year is on the fall and winter services page, so you can match each line of your list to whoever is going to do it.

Call HJ Property Care & Tree Service at (406) 215-7319 or book a fall cleanup before the snow settles in.

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