Before the snow stays, get heavy leaves off the lawn, keep mowing until the grass stops, clean out diseased plant material, water evergreens if the soil is dry, and drain the hoses. Mulch tender beds once the ground starts to freeze, and keep de-icing salt on the pavement.
The list below takes those one at a time, with what UMass Extension and other New England extension services recommend for each.
Choate’s fall cleanups clear leaves and yard debris from lawns and beds, and pruning and hedge trimming are part of our landscape maintenance. Use the list to plan your own weekends, or to decide what to hand off.
The checklist.
- Keep mowing until the grass stops. Mow at your usual height until growth ends, so the lawn goes into winter at about three inches: not long and not scalped (UMass). Our guide on when to stop mowing covers the last cuts.
- Get heavy leaves off the lawn. On lawns under trees, UNH Extension advises removing as many leaves as possible before winter: a thick layer can smother the grass and promote snow mold. A light covering can be mowed in instead (UMass), and our fall leaf guide helps you decide.
- Clean out diseased plant material. Every source we checked agrees: remove diseased foliage and stems (UMass), and do not compost them (UNH Extension).
- Decide what to leave standing in the beds. UMass suggests leaving healthy stems and seedheads such as coneflower, black-eyed Susan and Joe-Pye weed, which give birds seeds, and UNH notes that standing stems trap leaves and snow around a plant’s crown. Others, such as iris, daylily, hosta and peony, can be cut back in fall (UNH Extension).
- Prune lightly, if at all. Fall is for removing dead, diseased or damaged branches. Do not shear shrubs now, since it can stimulate new growth (UMass). Prune spring-flowering shrubs right after they bloom and summer bloomers in late February or March (UMass, Pruning Shrubs).
- Water evergreens and new plantings. If the soil is dry, water broadleaf evergreens deeply in late fall (UMass), and keep watering anything planted this year until the ground freezes (UMass).
- Mulch after the ground starts to freeze. A 3 to 4 inch winter mulch is there to prevent root injury from repeated freezing and thawing, not to keep plants warm, so it goes down once the ground begins to freeze (UMass). A burlap windbreak on the side facing the prevailing wind helps exposed evergreens (UMass).
- Drain the hoses and shut off outdoor water. Drain hoses and irrigation lines (UMass). After shutting off the water to outdoor faucets, open them to relieve any remaining pressure (UConn Extension).
- Plan where the de-icing salt goes. Keep salt on walks and driveways rather than lawns and beds, mix it with sand, or use a deicer that is not sodium-based, and do not shovel salty snow onto beds (UMass). Do not pile snow on the lawn either (UMass). Dead or yellowed grass along a driveway or walk in spring can be salt damage (UMass).
- Put the mower away properly. Add stabilizer to ethanol fuel and run the engine five to ten minutes before storing it (UMass).
When to get it done in eastern Massachusetts.
The first freeze usually comes in October. The National Weather Service in Boston ends its frost advisories for eastern Massachusetts after about October 11, which it describes as roughly the median first freeze. Leaves keep falling well after that, so fall cleanups often run into November.
The order matters more than the date: the leaves and the last mows before the snow stays, winter mulch once the ground starts to freeze, and the hoses before the first hard freeze.
What to hand off.
Choate’s fall cleanups clear leaves and yard debris from the lawn and beds in stages as the leaves come down, with hauling included when it is agreed in your estimate. Pruning and hedge trimming are part of our landscape maintenance, and both can be part of a year-round care plan.
Tell us which items on this list you want handled, and we’ll put them in a written estimate.
Sources
- Is It Absolutely Necessary to Rake the Leaves in the Fall?, UNH Extension
- Should perennials be cut back in fall?, UNH Extension
- Hort Notes, 2021 Vol. 32:7, UMass Extension
- Hort Notes, 2024 Vol. 35:9, UMass Extension
- Hort Notes, 2025 Vol. 36:8, UMass Extension
- Pruning Shrubs, UMass Extension
- Garden Clippings, 2018 Vol. 37:8, UMass Extension
- Garden Clippings, 2019 Vol. 38:8, UMass Extension
- The Impact of Salts on Plants and How to Reduce Plant Injury, UMass Extension
- The Snow Molds, UMass Extension Turf Program
- Mowing, Best Management Practices for Lawn and Landscape Turf, UMass Extension
- Best Management Practices for Lawn and Landscape Turf (PDF), UMass Extension
- Winterize your Garden Gear Before It’s Too Late!, UConn Home & Garden Education Center
- Frost/Freeze Program (PDF), National Weather Service Boston