Winter is just around the corner. Soon the leaves on the ground around Kansas City will be covered in snow so it’s time to get your home ready for winter and the cold weather.  What’s the first thing to do? Start raking. But what to do next? Here are some handy tips.

It’s time to start cleaning up your gardens. If your yard looks like ours, your marigolds are drooping and everything else is dead after the first couple of frosts. Go ahead and pull your annuals. If you have tomato and other vegetable plants, just chop them down.  If you leave the roots (you’ll want to pull them out in spring), less soil will erode.

Another way to prepare your home for winter is to get out and mulch your garden areas and around your trees so everything is protected from the snow. If you use a mulch product that decomposes over time, it will add nutrients to the soil. Don’t like to use wood chips? No worries. Straw makes a great layer of protection from snow.

If you have lots of trees, be sure to get out a ladder and check your gutters. Gutters filled with leaves in the fall can cause major problems when also filled with heavy snow. If you don’t like to work up high, call a company to help you out like Window Genie.

Be sure to pull in any potted plants now that you’d like to make it through winter. Since we’ve already had some cold temperatures here in Kansas City, all it will take is one sudden freeze to kill them. If you were smart and planted some herbs in pots, place them in a sunny spot inside so you’ll have fresh ones all year long.

Finally, make sure you disconnect all your hoses and put away your sprinklers for the winter. When freezing weather hits, you don’t want them to crack due to moisture. Keep them in a place that’s nice and dry. That way they’ll be ready when spring comes.