Lawn

With the winter holidays already behind us, it's time to look forward to the coming months of sunshine, flower buds and plants sprouting and maybe even some new green lawns. But before you get caught up in spring fever, it's time to look at what kind of clean-up is necessary for the lawn as well as other preparations to take this month.

While it may be too time-consuming or impossible to try and rake up every single leaf that falls from a tree in your yard, it would be a better idea to focus on leaves that get in the way of walking, such as fallen leaves on a path or any pavement around your home. The rule of thumb to keep in mind is to clear leaves away from any area that people may be prone to slip on.

To remove leaves from your lawn, a rake or leaf blower both work well. Be careful not to pull up any tender grass blades while using a rake. A bamboo rake can be useful because it does less damage than a plastic or steel rake. If you want to be extra careful with grass blades, a leaf blower will help, although you may want to make sure any and all new seeds have germinated and won't be blown away by the leaf blower. Gather up the raked leaves in something easier than a big, floppy trash bag, such as a four-sided container, big enough to hold the leaves and flexible enough to lay on its side so that you can directly rake leaves into.

To create natural compost for your yard, you can gather a pile of leaves together on your lawn and close it off with some chicken wire where they can be left to turn into rich, organic material for the lawn to feed off of. You can also use a mulching mower which can shred leaves into tiny pieces that decompose in the lawn while adding organic matter and nutrients back to the soil.

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