Essential Tools Needed To Cut Back & Clean Up Your Garden In The Fall

As summer comes to an end and temperatures start to drop, it becomes the ideal time to give your garden and yard some attention before winter comes. Fall is the perfect time for clearing away dead debris and branches, cutting back select plants, managing leaves, and cleaning and sanitizing all your tools, a fall maintenance task that helps protect plants from disease. Doing all these things in the fall helps prepare your garden for beautiful blooms and new growth in the spring. Tackling these tasks efficiently starts with making sure you have the right tools available. Having all the essential equipment you need for cutting back and cleaning up not only saves time and effort, but also helps protect your plants.

An important fall cleanup task is removing dead and diseased branches and foliage from your trees and plants. You'll need a sharp pair of hand pruning shears for this job, and a nice set of loppers for the branches that are higher up. For large diameter branches, having a pruning saw on hand can be really helpful. While there are several plants you shouldn't be pruning in the fall, removing the dead foliage and branches or any with diseases will improve the health of your trees, shrubs, and plants  without causing any issues from pruning at the wrong time. As an added precaution, wipe your pruning tools off with a sanitizing wipe between trees or shrubs, especially if you are removing diseased branches, so you don't spread any diseases to other trees and plants.

Another big garden cleanup task is managing the leaves that fall on your lawn, driveway, walkways, and flowerbeds. One of the most basic and necessary tools for dealing with leaves is a nice large leaf rake. Leaf rakes are made of metal or heavy-duty plastic and work well to rake up all the fallen leaves in your yard and garden into piles. A garden rake is another type of rake that is helpful for yard cleanup, including raking up all the cut debris and branches and breaking up soil. Garden rakes are usually made of steel that can handle heavy-duty jobs without breaking. If you don't like raking up and bagging leaves, there are plenty of powerful tools that make cleaning up fallen leaves a breeze, like leaf blowers and leaf vacuums, that you can add to your tool shed.

Fall is an excellent time for pressure washing to get rid of mildew, algae, and stubborn dirt from your driveways, siding, patios or decks, and outdoor furniture. Purchase or rent a good pressure washer to tackle these tasks. Round out your tool arsenal with a good pair of gloves to protect your hands from blisters and thorns, a wheelbarrow or garden cart for hauling away debris and branches, and a ladder for pruning the dead branches from tall trees or hedges. A handheld tool sharpener is also a good item to have in your garden shed, so you can keep your pruners, snips, and loppers sharp and ready to go.