Fall Leaf & Yard Cleanup Checklist for Fresno, Clovis & Kerman

Fall in the Central Valley doesn't arrive all at once. The first cool mornings show up in October, but the trees on most streets in Fresno and Clovis don't really let go until Thanksgiving, and some hang on into January. That's why one big cleanup in October rarely does it.

Here's when the leaves actually come down, what to clean up before winter, what to leave alone until spring, and when it makes sense to have someone else do it.

When the leaves really fall here

The common street and yard trees in Fresno, Clovis and Kerman drop on different schedules:

Tree	Typical drop
Chinese pistache, crape myrtle, ash	Late October through November
Mulberry	November, often all within a week or two
Liquidambar (sweetgum)	November into December, plus the spiky seed balls
Sycamore and London plane	Late November into January, and the big leaves break down slowly
Valley oak	Through December, with acorns

In practice that means two passes, sometimes three: one in mid-to-late November, one in mid-December, and a last one in early January if you live under sycamores.

Why you shouldn't leave them on the lawn

A few scattered leaves are fine. A layer that covers the grass for more than about a week isn't:

• It smothers the grass. Overseeded ryegrass on a Bermuda lawn, and fescue, are actively growing through winter. Under a mat of wet leaves, they yellow and thin out. (If you overseeded this fall, this matters twice as much. See our ryegrass overseeding guide or our fescue overseeding guide.)
• It holds moisture against the soil. That's the setup for fungus and for the bugs that come with it.
• It hides sprinkler heads. A buried head sprays into the leaves instead of the lawn, and a mower finds it before you do.
• Sycamore and oak leaves are slow. They're leathery and don't mulch down quickly the way thin leaves do.

Mulch-mow or remove?

If you can still see plenty of grass through the leaves, mow over them with the mower set at its normal height. The shredded pieces fall between the blades and break down. If the leaves are more than one layer deep, or wet and matted, rake or blow them off first. Mowing a wet, heavy layer just makes clumps.

The fall cleanup checklist

Lawn

• Get leaves off the grass every week or two once the heavy drop starts
• Rake out acorns and sweetgum balls before mowing (they're hard on blades and ankles)
• Keep mowing on schedule. Bermuda slows down in November, but overseeded ryegrass and fescue keep growing.
• Final low cut on Bermuda once it goes dormant. Details in our fall lawn prep guide.

Beds and borders

• Pull summer weeds before they drop seed. Spurge and puncturevine (goatheads) left in place now come back as a bigger crop next year.
• Clear leaves out of beds that are packed against stems and the base of shrubs.
• Cut back spent summer annuals and anything that's clearly finished.
• Top off thin mulch to 2 to 3 inches. It insulates roots on frosty nights and holds the moisture winter rain gives you. See our mulch and flowerbed service.

Rock, gravel and DG areas

• Blow leaves out of rock and decomposed granite regularly. Leaves that break down in the gaps turn into soil, and soil in gravel grows weeds.
• Clear corners where the wind piles everything up against the fence.

Sprinklers

• Uncover any heads buried by leaves or mulch.
• Cut run times back as the weather cools, and switch to the winter schedule on November 1. In Fresno, Clovis and Kerman that's one day a week: Saturday for odd addresses, Sunday for even. More in our watering schedule guide.
• If a zone stopped working, now's the time to fix it before it's forgotten until spring. See why a sprinkler zone won't turn on.

What to leave alone until later

A fall cleanup is also about knowing what not to cut:

• Frost-tender plants like lantana and some salvias. Their dead-looking top growth protects the crown on frost nights. Cut them back in late February, after the frost risk passes.
• Big pruning on shade and fruit trees. Heavy pruning is best done once the trees are dormant, from late November through February. That's also when you can actually see the branch structure.
• Ornamental grasses. Leave them standing through winter and cut them down in late winter before new growth starts.

What to do with all of it

Leaves, weeds and trimmings go in your green cart in both Fresno and Clovis. A few habits save you a lot of trouble:

• Don't bag leaves in plastic for the green cart. Put them in loose.
• Don't blow leaves into the street or gutter. They end up in the storm drains, and piles in the street are exactly what neighbors and HOAs complain about.
• Spread out the heavy weeks. One cart fills fast under a big tree. Stack the extra in a corner on a tarp and fill the cart a bit at a time over the next few pickups.
• Watch for Clovis's community clean-up flier. Clovis runs a fall clean-up cycle with neighborhood collection dates mailed to residents, which helps with bulky piles.

DIY or have it done?

A small front yard with one tree is a weekend afternoon with a rake. It's a different story when you have:

• A big sycamore, mulberry or oak over the lawn,
• Rock or gravel beds that leaves blow into,
• A rental, a vacant house or a house you're about to list (see our curb appeal guide), or
• A yard that got away from you over the summer.

A one-time property cleanup usually runs about $200–$500, depending on the size of the yard, how much there is to haul, and access. The fastest way to an actual number is photos: send a couple of the front and back yard and we'll price it before we come out.

If you're on one of our bi-weekly lawn care plans, every visit already ends with a blow-off, which keeps up with a normal leaf drop. A heavy drop under big trees, or beds that need a full reset, is better handled as a cleanup. Just ask.

Or call us at (559) 809-1230.