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Tidying Up Your Smyrna Landscapes Before Winter

A Pair of Boys Raking Up the Autumn Leaves in SmyrnaAs the autumn leaves begin to fall and summer flowers fade, it is important to clear them out of your rental property’s garden and yard before the warmer days leave and winter begins to arrive. Although it may be tempting to leave the leaves on the ground, there are a lot of reasons why this should be avoided. To make sure that your rental’s lawn and garden stay healthy and to encourage strong roots that will help them withstand winter temperatures, the best thing you can do is to remove old growth and fallen leaves each fall.

Clearing dead leaves, flowers, and old-growth from your Smyrna rental property’s yard has more to do than just keeping the appearance of tidiness. Cleaning up a home’s exterior isn’t all for show. Some property owners think that because fallen leaves and old-growth are natural, it’s okay to leave them on lawns and in gardens to decompose over the winter. They would be mistaken. The danger of taking this approach is that the layers of dead leaves and other debris can smother lawns and other plants, preventing air, light, and essential nutrients from penetrating the ground below. Healthy landscape plants and grass rely on a healthy root system, which in turn relies on abundant access to water, air, and light.

While having healthy plants in your garden is already a very good reason to clear your rental property’s fallen leaves and dead garden plants, there are still additional reasons besides that. For one, uncleared leaves and dead flowers can result in common plant diseases that can ruin an otherwise healthy yard. As the debris piles up, it creates a blanket over the grass and other plants. This may trap moisture underneath and can result in damaging mold growths and other issues. Eventually, these diseases will kill existing plants. By leaving uncleared dead leaves on your yard, you’re also putting it at risk for an increase in insects and other pests. Many kinds of roaches, spiders, and small mammals flourish in layers of rotting foliage. As the population of these pests explodes outside, they would slowly reach more areas and eventually reach the inside of your rental home. With your rental home at stake, it’s easy to see why you shouldn’t let dead flowers, plants, and fallen leaves remain in the yard before winter arrives. They should be removed.

There are a number of property owners that rely on their tenants for their autumn landscaping clean-up. This isn’t a good idea. It may not have occurred to your tenant how important it is to remove dead leaves and flowers. That could be the reason, or maybe they just don’t know how to do it correctly. Tenants may also be risking their safety, and that would be a terrible thing for a property owner. For example, if your property has tall trees that shed leaves onto the roof or other elevated surfaces, the last thing you’d want to do is ask your tenant to get on a ladder to trim tree branches or clear the fallen leaves away. That would be a really bad idea.

Not every leaf that falls has to be cleaned up and removed right away. That wouldn’t make much sense. But if you have large leaf falls, that’s a different story. Those should be addressed in a timely manner to prevent damage to your rental property’s landscaping, foundation, and even the roof and gutters. There are some good and efficient ways to get the job done. One way is for property owners to rake fallen leaves onto the lawn and then use a mulching mower to shred them into fine particles, which will sift down into the soil and fertilize the grass. Others may opt to have a professional company do the annual clean-up. They would hire a company with a track-record to make sure they do it right. This may be more efficient and cost-effective than doing it yourself.

Whichever method you end up choosing would be okay for as long as the guiding principle is there— that the care for your rental property’s yard does not put your tenant at risk. If you have time, you can do the job yourself. But the saying holds true also for real estate investors: time is money. That is why Real Property Management East Cobb takes care of important seasonal maintenance tasks for property owners who have a lot of things to do. Our top-tier property management services will see to it that your Smyrna rental property will be looked after carefully and will be ready for whatever the winter season throws at it. Contact us online or call at 770-622-5657 to get started.

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