Fall Yard Reset: 3 Jobs to Do Before the Leaves Pile Up

Mid-September is the sweet spot for yard work. The heat has broken, the ground is still soft, and the leaves haven't buried everything yet. Fall officially begins next week, and the handful of weekends between now and the first hard frost are the ones where outdoor jobs are actually pleasant to do.

Here are three worth putting on the calendar now — plus the gear that keeps each of them from turning into a chore.

1. Dig while the ground is still easy

Fall is planting season. Spring bulbs go in now if you want anything to come up in April, crowded perennials get divided, and tired summer annuals get pulled from the beds — all of it hands in the soil, for an afternoon at a time.

The Garden Gloves with Claws have four ABS claws built into the fingertips of each hand, so digging, planting, weeding and seeding happen without setting the glove down to find a trowel. The palm has a water-resistant natural latex rubber coating and the back is breathable nylon knit, so air still circulates while your hands stay clean and dry. When you're done, rinse them under water and hang them up. One size fits most women, men and older kids, at 12 x 24 cm.

2. Cutting back means sharp edges

The other half of fall yard work is subtraction: pruning, deadheading, hauling brush to the curb, breaking branches down small enough for the yard-waste bin. That's the part that leaves you with scraped knuckles.

The Cut Resistant Level 5 Safety Work Gloves are knit from HPPE fiber in a tight 13-needle weave, with a cut resistance rating of level 5. They come in S through XL — 20 cm long at the small end, 26 cm at the largest — with a stretchy knit cuff that makes them easy to pull on and off. They don't shed, and they're machine washable. Worth knowing: the same pair is listed for kitchen prep, carving, fishing and workshop jobs, so they won't sit idle in the shed once the beds are put away.

3. Then comes the good part: fire pit weather

The reward for a September Saturday in the yard is that the evening is finally cool enough to sit outside in it. Getting the fire pit going, though, is where a lot of those evenings stall out.

The Fire Starter Portable Tool BBQ Fan Air Blower is a hand-crank blower — you insert the handle and turn it to push air where you need it, which accelerates charcoal burning instead of leaving you fanning a paper plate. The body is lightweight plastic with a metal air outlet at the front that keeps the casing from scorching. It's about 24.5 cm long, and it's listed for fireplaces, fire pits, BBQs, smokers and camping.

A short fall yard checklist

While you're out there anyway, a few things that pay off later:

• Get spring bulbs in the ground before it hardens.
• Cut back spent perennials and clear the beds now, not in November.
• Keep leaves off the lawn in stages — it's far easier than one enormous pile.
• Drain and coil hoses before the first freeze.
• Move charcoal and firewood somewhere dry and covered.
• Rinse and dry tools before storing them for the winter.

A couple of good weekends now makes the whole season easier. Browse the rest of the VIGOR outdoor and garden collection to get set up before the leaves start falling in earnest.