Fall garden cleanup does not need to mean cutting everything down, blowing away every leaf and leaving the garden completely bare.
In fact, I do almost the opposite.
My goal each fall is to figure out what actually needs to be cleared, what can stay, what can be reused, and which jobs will make life easier once spring rolls around.
If you came here from my Reel, these are the fall jobs I tackle in my own garden, plus a few more things I like to check off before winter settles in.
This post is part of a paid partnership with WORX. The tools featured in this post were provided to me for testing purposes as part of the partnership. As always, all opinions and experiences shared here are my own.
1. Clear pathways, patios and other hard surfaces
Fallen leaves are wonderful in the garden, but I do not necessarily want them sitting everywhere.
Walkways, patios, stairs and other hard surfaces are some of the places I prioritize clearing before prolonged wet weather arrives. Once leaves become saturated, they can mat down, become slippery and turn into a much messier job later.
For this part of my cleanup, I use my WORX LEAFJET Cordless Leaf Blower to quickly move leaves and debris off my hard surfaces. It is part of the WORX PowerShare system, so its battery can be used with other compatible WORX tools.
You can absolutely accomplish the same job with a broom or rake. The important part is simply being intentional about where the leaves stay and where they go.
2. Move excess leaves instead of clearing everything
I am very much on team “leave the leaves,” but that does not mean every leaf needs to stay exactly where it falls.
A light layer of leaves under shrubs, around perennial beds and in less manicured parts of the garden can be useful organic material and provide habitat.
There are, however, areas where I do not want a heavy layer building up.
I focus on moving leaves from places like:
🍂 lawns with very dense leaf cover
🍂 paths and high-traffic areas
🍂 patios and stairs
🍂 areas where thick, wet mats tend to develop
Rather than thinking of fall cleanup as removing leaves from the garden, I think of it as redistributing them.
3. Turn leaves into garden mulch
This is one of my favourite fall garden tips because it turns something many people throw away into a free garden resource.
Instead of bagging up all of your leaves, chop or shred some of them and return them to your garden beds.
You can do this with a leaf mulcher, run over dry leaves with a lawn mower, or simply leave whole leaves in appropriate parts of the garden.
Shredded leaves take up far less space and gradually break down, contributing organic matter back to the soil.
Free mulch, delivered directly from your own trees? I will take it.
4. Tackle smaller pruning jobs
Fall is not the time to indiscriminately prune everything in sight.
Different trees and shrubs have different pruning requirements, so I always consider the plant and the appropriate timing before making significant cuts.
That said, this is a useful time for me to look for smaller branches that are dead, damaged, crossing, obstructing access or otherwise need attention.
For branches that are beyond what I would tackle comfortably with hand pruners, I use my WORX 20V PowerShare 5-inch Cordless Pruning Saw.
The compact size makes it particularly handy for the smaller pruning jobs I encounter around my urban garden.
My approach is always selective: prune what actually needs attention rather than giving everything a fall haircut.
5. Check higher branches
While I am looking over my trees and larger shrubs, I also check higher branches that may need attention.
For appropriate pruning jobs that can be safely handled from the ground, I use my WORX 20V PowerShare 10-inch Cordless Pole/Chain Saw.
It combines a cordless chainsaw with an extension pole and is part of the PowerShare platform.
A very important caveat: not every branch should be a DIY project.
Large or unstable limbs, branches near power lines, or anything that cannot be safely reached and cut from stable ground should be handled by a qualified professional.
6. Pull declining warm-season vegetables
This is one of the hardest fall jobs for gardeners because the plants are often not technically dead.
But alive does not always mean productive.
As the days shorten and temperatures drop, warm-season crops such as tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers can slow dramatically.
Once a plant is clearly finished producing enough to justify the space it occupies, I pull it.
In a small garden, that space is valuable real estate.
Removing tired summer crops gives me room for fall vegetables, garlic, cover crops, mulch or simply a prepared bed going into winter.
7. Harvest anything you do not want to lose
Before I pull plants or cut anything back, I do one final garden sweep.
Look for:
🍅 mature green or partially ripened tomatoes
🌶️ remaining peppers
🥒 cucumbers
🎃 pumpkins and winter squash
🌿 herbs worth drying or freezing
🌻 seeds you want to save
Depending on the crop, some produce can continue ripening indoors.
That means an approaching frost does not necessarily mean sacrificing everything still on the plant.
8. Remove genuinely diseased plant material
Not every fallen leaf or dead stem needs to disappear from the garden.
But heavily diseased plant material is something I deal with more selectively.
If leaving infected material behind could reasonably contribute to the same disease problem next year, I remove it rather than intentionally spreading it around my beds.
Healthy plant material, on the other hand, can often stay in the garden or head to the compost pile.
The goal is not a perfectly tidy garden.
It is a healthier one.
9. Protect your soil
Bare soil is rarely my end goal heading into winter.
Once beds have been cleared, I like to cover the soil surface with whatever makes sense for that particular area.
That might include:
🍂 fallen or shredded leaves
🌱 cover crops
🌾 healthy plant residue
🪵 compost or another organic mulch
Keeping soil covered helps protect its surface through winter and gives all that organic material an opportunity to gradually break down.
It is one of the reasons I am reluctant to send fall leaves away.
Nature is literally dropping mulch into my garden for free.
10. Leave some habitat behind
My fall garden will never look completely “finished,” and that is intentional.
Leaf litter, standing stems, seed heads and other plant material can all provide food or shelter within the garden through the colder months.
Rather than cutting everything down to ground level, I focus my cleanup on the areas that genuinely need attention and allow other parts of the garden to transition into winter more naturally.
That gives me the best of both worlds: a garden that remains manageable for me while still functioning as a living ecosystem.
My approach to fall garden cleanup
The biggest shift I have made over the years is realizing that fall garden prep is not about doing more.
It is about being more selective.
Clear what needs clearing.
Keep what is useful.
Reuse what you already have.
Prune when the timing makes sense.
And leave enough behind for the garden to keep being a garden, even after the growing season slows down.
For this year's fall cleanup, I have been using three WORX PowerShare tools:
🍁 WORX LEAFJET Cordless Leaf Blower
✂️ WORX 20V PowerShare 5-inch Cordless Pruning Saw
🌳 WORX 20V PowerShare 10-inch Cordless Pole/Chain Saw
One of the features I appreciate about the PowerShare system is being able to use compatible batteries across different WORX garden and power tools. WORX currently describes the system as allowing its 20V batteries to be combined across compatible 20V, 40V and 80V PowerShare tools.
For me, that makes it easier to move from one fall job to the next without having a completely separate battery system for every tool.
And that's it: my 10-step fall garden checklist!
Fall garden prep does not have to mean stripping everything bare or spending an entire weekend cleaning up.
A little strategic work now can protect your garden, put your fall leaves to good use and make things considerably easier when spring rolls around.
Save this checklist for your next fall garden day, and follow along for more practical, seasonal gardening tips.