Now’s the Time to Prep Your Yard for Next Year, and These Lawn Care Must-Haves Are All Under $30

Gardening season is never really over, no matter how cold it gets. In the off season, fall yard cleanup is still very important for setting up the success of your lawns and gardens next year, even if it means you have to deal with now-dead beds and crunchy brown grass. With such a small window before the first frost, now is the time to start raking leaves, weeding old growth, mulching and seeding the lawn, planting spring bulbs, and so much more. 

We’ve rounded up everything you need to tackle your yard this fall, from gardening gloves to yard waste bins. We know that seasonal shifts like this can get expensive, so each of these Amazon picks are under $30.

Shop Fall Cleanup Sales on Amazon

• Worx Landscaping 26-Gallon Collapsible Yard Waste Bin, $29
• Fiskars Micro-Tip Pruning Snips 6-Inch Garden Shears, $10 (was $17)
• Buyplus Adjustable Telescopic Metal Garden Leaf Rake, $22 with coupon (was $39)
• Cooljob Gardening Gloves, $14 (was $20)
• Scott’s Turf Builder Grass Seed Sun and Shade Mix, $30
• Fiskar’s Grip Weeder, $15 (was $18)
• Preen Natural Vegetable Garden Weed Preventer, $22 (was $26)

Cooljob Gardening Gloves 

You won’t get too far in your fall yard cleanup if you don’t have the right gardening gloves on your hands. Wear them while weeding, raking, planting, thatching, and scooping debris into yard waste bags to avoid punctures, scratches, splinters, and dirty fingernails. These gloves come in a convenient six-pack, and are rubber-coated for the best protection and strongest grip possible. 

Buyplus Adjustable Telescopic Metal Garden Leaf Rake

Raking the leaves is one of the most important things you can do to prepare your yard for the following season, but doing it inefficiently can cause a bit of a headache. A clog-free rake saves you the hassle of having to pick wet clumps from the tines every few seconds, and the telescopic handle on this one extends anywhere from 24 to 63 inches long. This means you can cover more surface area in less time and leave fewer leaves behind, too.

Worx Landscaping 26-Gallon Collapsible Yard Waste Bin

After so much raking and weeding, all that yard waste has to go somewhere. Lugging around a leaf bag can get pretty tiring, so we recommend adding this 26-gallon collapsible yard waste bin to your list. Made of rip-resistant canvas, this reusable bin can withstand all the poking and prodding from collected branches and sticks, plus folds down to a 2-inch stack when not in use for easy storage. 

Fiskars Micro-Tip Pruning Snips 6-Inch Garden Shears

Just like you want to cut the lawn a little shorter this season, cutting back most bushes, flowers, and shrubs is usually a good idea for the off season. Cut down flowers like foxglove or shrubs like roses right to the soil to give them the chance to grow back better next year. Clearing out stems and foliage in fall is also crucial for pest and disease prevention. Plus, with the old remnants out of the way, new growth can come in full throttle.

Scott’s Turf Builder Grass Seed Sun and Shade Mix

It may often be thought of as a spring thing, but repairing grass patches during the fall allows fewer weeds to grow back next year. Seeding now gives the grass the entire winter to establish itself, so that by the time spring rolls around each patch has already been nursed back to health. Just be sure to adequately water the patches for a few weeks before winterizing the lawn completely. This grass seed is optimized for both sun and shade, which means it can grow in extreme conditions either way to spread and thicken the lawn, even in drought conditions. This 3-pound container covers new lawns of up to 400 square feet and has overseeding coverage of 1,200 square feet.

Fiskar’s Grip Weeder

Use Fiskar’s bestselling weeding tool to take one last stab at your garden’s peskiest weeds. It’s best to rip them out as soon as you see them, before they develop into bigger and stronger problems. Ripping them out now also means they are less likely to come back later.

Preen Natural Vegetable Garden Weed Preventer

This natural weed preventer is safe enough to use around established vegetables, herbs, and fruit plants, as the active ingredient is corn gluten meal. Typically, it can be applied to the garden every four to six weeks, but for fall yard cleanup purposes, you’ll only have to use this once for the season. The 5-pound container covers up to 250 square feet and prevents crabgrass, dandelions, clover, and other common weeds. While it won’t kill off the existing weeds—that’s what the Fiskar’s Grip Weeder is for—it will cover and prevent new growth from breaking in.