As 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 while the cold days of winter have still yet 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 Palma Ceia rental property’s yard isn’t only about looking tidy. Keeping your home’s exterior clean affects more things than its appearance. 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 trouble with this approach is that 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.
Although keeping your plants and grass healthy is a great reason to clear your rental property’s fallen leaves and dead garden plants, there are a number of additional reasons to do so. One of them is that 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 cover that traps moisture underneath. This can result in damaging mold growths and other issues that will eventually damage or kill existing plants. There is also another problem that happens when you have uncleared dead leaves, it’ll bring 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 outdoors, they would start to infest an increasingly greater area and would likely 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. Tenants may not know the extent of how removing dead leaves and flowers can affect the home; they may also not know how to remove them properly. 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 different ways to efficiently do the job. One such way by raking 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. Some property owners prefer this method. Others would source it out and hire a professional company to step in and do an annual clean-up. This method could actually be more efficient and economical.
Whichever method you ultimately choose would be fine for as long as your priority would be to care for your rental property’s yard without putting your tenant at risk. If you have extra time, you can do the work yourself. But the saying holds true also for real estate investors: time is money. That is why Real Property Management TradeWinds takes care of important seasonal maintenance tasks for property owners that value their time. Our first-rate property management services will properly care for your Palma Ceia rental property and get it ready for whatever winter brings. Contact us online or call at 727-400-4722 to get started.
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