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The soil around your foundation should slope down and away from your home, not toward it. If the grading drops the farther you are from your home, you can enhance the slope by removing more soil. Mark off a few feet from your house and dig up some of this soil. Regrading around your fountain should encourage water to flow away from your home and not collect or “pond.”

While both fall and spring are suitable times of the year for planting trees, fall is typically the better option. Soil stays warm long enough to allow tree roots to establish in fall before they go dormant, while spring might give way to intense summer heat before spring-planted trees have time to grow strong roots.

In most cases, wait three to five days to repot or relocate a plant from a greenhouse or nursery. That way, your plant has time to recover from any shock during the move and adapt to the conditions in and around your home. Some hearty plants may not need as long, and delicate plants might need several weeks. You should ask the professional at your nursery for a recommended timeline. Consider asking about an initial watering schedule to help stimulate root growth and promote a healthy plant.

A scattering of leaves won’t pose a problem through the winter, but a thicker layer of leaves may not decompose before the first frost and can instead weigh down your grass and harbor mold or fungi. A thick layer of leaves also cuts off light and air that grass needs to grow. That’s why we suggest removing thick leaf layers within several days if possible. If your lawn goes dormant over the winter and snow has already caught up with you, then remove the leaves in early spring before your grass-growing season starts so your lawn can thrive.