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While leaves won’t fully decompose over winter, they will still continue to decompose, just more slowly than usual.

A standard home lawn mower with sharp blades can handle a thin layer of leaves without issue. You may need to make a couple of passes within several days to mulch leaves down, but your mower shouldn’t struggle. If your mower comes with a mulching kit, like an attachment to blow leaves out the side, that’s a good sign it’s ready for fall leaves. Set your mower to the highest or near-highest height for this project so it focuses on the leaves rather than the grass below.

You have a few options to get rid of raked leaves, including bagging them and leaving them out for yard waste pickup. Even if you hire a professional for leaf removal, they can often bag the leaves and leave them for you to dispose of this way. You can also recycle and even donate yard waste. If you have a compost bin, your leaves will be ready to help your plants grow, reducing spring cleanup landscaping costs. Some companies will even accept donations of raked leaves to make compost, but you’ll need to transport them yourself.

The time that it takes to fill in a pool with dirt varies based on the size of the pool and the equipment you have available. Using heavy equipment, like an excavator rather than a shovel, will significantly cut down on the time it takes to complete the project. With the right equipment, it may only take a day or two. However, after the initial filling, the dirt will continue to settle over the following weeks and months. You may need to add more dirt to make the empty area level with the rest of the yard.