Fall in the Sky Valley is short, wet, and full of leaves. What you do in October decides how much work March is. Here's the list we run through on every fall clean-up, whether we're doing it or you are.
Get the leaves and needles off the lawn. A layer left through winter smothers the grass and feeds moss. Rake or blow it out of the lawn and beds, and haul it away rather than piling it in a corner where it rots against the fence.
Cut the lawn one last time, a notch shorter than usual, and apply a fall fertilizer with lime. This is the single most useful feeding of the year for a Western Washington lawn, because the roots keep growing through the mild winter even when the top doesn't.
Cut back perennials, pull the annuals, and top the beds with a fresh two inches of bark. It insulates roots, blocks winter weeds, and makes the yard look finished through the gray months. Trim hedges lightly so they don't collect snow damage, but leave spring-flowering shrubs alone until after they bloom.
Finally, blow out or drain the irrigation system before the first hard freeze, and pressure wash the walkways while it's still dry enough to do it. Come spring, all that's left is a mow and a check of what winter did.