Autumn: time for maintenance in and around the house
By Linda – Autumn is back in full swing and that means that both outdoors and indoors are once again required of us. Because if you don’t maintain your yard and home this season, by the time you can sit outside in the sunshine again, you will see it reflected. How to do it?
Read along!
The garden in autumn
Leaves in your garden
To start with, the ultimate autumn phenomenon: falling leaves. The trees are always at their best in autumn, I think, with leaves in all sorts of colors. But unfortunately those leaves do not stay neatly hanging around, but end up in the garden.
And for anyone with grass in the garden, that’s a pain, because leaves really shouldn’t be left on your grass! In fact, leaves on your grass cause several problems on your grass:
- Leaves choke the grass
- Leaves stop light from reaching the grass, causing yellowing and eventually bare patches in the grass (and weeds get in there)
- If you leave the leaves lying around you have a chance of a felt layer on your grass
So it’s important to clean up those leaves. You don’t have to do that with every leaf in a day, but make sure you remove the leaves every week. The easiest way to do that is of course with a leaf blower.
You can choose between leaf blowers that blow the leaves away, so you have to clean them up after you’ve blown them into a pile, or leaf blowers that suck them up. The advantage is that you don’t have to clean up the loose leaves. The (in my opinion negligible) disadvantage is that you might have to empty the stock in between.
Pruning
Most plants can be pruned at the beginning of autumn. This ensures that they will grow and flourish better again in the spring. Pruning also ensures that your plants do not overgrow.
It is always advisable, if you know the name, to look up on the internet how and when your plant should be pruned, because sometimes it deviates from the standard.
The house during autumn
Wet shoes
The inside of your house has to endure autumn as well. Just think of those wet shoes or boots that the children often come in with. If you have a wooden floor, wet shoes are definitely an eyesore. In autumn you will have to clean the floor more often.
Personally I really hate mopping and for me the Kärcher steam cleaner is a godsend. With this device the floor will be clean in no time and also many times cleaner than with a traditional mop.
And another advantage: that steam cleaner you use to clean your floor can also be used for taps, sinks, the toilet, the hood and your kitchen worktop, among other things.
Dirty clothes
A logical sequel to the wet shoes is of course the dirty clothes. Luckily a washing machine can take care of those dirty clothes, but before they are in the washing machine the damage is done. Think of the children who plop down on the couch when they come in and only then realize that their pants were dirty.
Auch. It might be a good idea to protect the couch in autumn and winter with a big blanket you put over the couch?