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1. Prune shrubs that may block airflow to your heat pump.
2. Clean out the gutters around your house from mud and fallen leaves.
3. If you have a chimney have it cleaned out and checked for blockage. This is crutial for both heating and Indoor Air Quality.
4. Get out all the winter maintenance materials so they are at hand when needed. Including a bucket of sand for walkways, the snow blower and shovels. Check and start up your snowblower. Ensure it is full of gasoline to insure proper air/gas mixture.
5. Wrap up hedges and small bushes in burlap and twine to prevent the limbs from breaking from heavy snowfalls that collect and ice over.
6. Pick up loose gravel and rocks. There's nothing worse than snow blowing your driveway and a rock jams in the blade, breaks it or goes flying through your dining room window. Prevent damages like this from happening before it begins to snow.
7. Rake up all fallen leaves. Your lawn still needs sunlight in the fall to prepare the grass root system for hibernation and good growth in the spring.
8. Use yard waste to your advantage. Shred up the leaves you've collected from your yard and mix them in with the soil in your garden. Leaves decay quickly and will create a great fertilizer and warmth for your garden through the winter.
9. Hill soil up around exposed bulbs or roots to protect from frost and to offer subtle warmth from snow and ice.
10. Save your evergreens over winter. It's important to continue watering your evergreens until just before the ground freezes. Over winter, evergreens and other carnivorous trees do not shed their "leaves" and continue to transpire (give off water vapour). By watering your evergreens late in the fall, they create a reserve of moisture. If you notice damaged evergreens in the Spring Time, this is most commonly from dehydration throughout the winter and the drying effects from the winter sun and cold winds.
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