I’ve been cutting trees and plowing snow here in Toronto for over a decade, and every fall, I’m making the same rounds. You know what our winters are like—it’s either bitter cold or it’s an ice storm followed by heavy, wet snow. That stuff destroys yards. If you don’t want a headache this winter and a bunch of regrets this spring, you need to get this done now. This is all real-talk, so listen up.
The most important thing is safety, and that means your trees. The biggest problem in a Toronto winter is branches breaking under ice and snow, landing on your roof, your driveway, or your hydro lines. You need to look up right now and find the dead, diseased, or clearly weak branches. Get those pruned, because they’ll be the first to snap. You also have to look for any V-shaped, narrow forks in the tree; those “co-dominant stems” are weak points and are notorious for splitting open when they get weighed down. Any branch that’s already hanging over your roof, near the power lines, or over your driveway needs to be dealt with. Don’t wait until it’s covered in ice and weighs ten times as much; it’s expensive and dangerous to deal with then. Also, if you’ve got those pyramid-shaped cedars, they hate wet snow. It’ll splay them open, and they’ll never look the same. Get some soft twine or burlap strips and gently wrap them in a spiral to help them hold their shape. And for any young trees you just planted, wrap the trunk with proper tree wrap. The winter sun scalds the bark, causing it to crack, and rabbits love to chew on it.
Once the trees are safe, we’ll deal with what makes your yard look good in the spring: the lawn. The most critical job here is leaf removal. Don’t be lazy about this. You must get those leaves up. If you leave a thick, wet mat of leaves on the grass and snow falls on top, it suffocates the lawn all winter. Come spring, when the snow melts, all you’ll have is “snow mold” —disgusting grey, dead patches. Either rake them up or use your mower’s mulching function to shred them into tiny pieces that can feed the soil. Before the grass stops growing (around early November), give it one final mow. Cut it a bit shorter this time, down to about 2 or 2.5 inches. If it’s too long, it just mats down under the snow and rots. Finally, put down the most important fertilizer of the year: the fall or “winterizer” kind. This isn’t for green top-growth; it’s high in potassium to feed the roots. Strong roots mean a fast green-up in the spring. And here’s a pro tip from my plowing days: get some of those reflective “snow stakes” and put them along the edges of your driveway and walkways. Once it’s all covered in white, you—or your snow contractor—won’t know where the lawn ends. This will stop you from tearing up your turf.
Last is the miscellaneous stuff, but ignoring it will cost you real money. The main thing is water. For every outdoor faucet, you must find the shut-off valve inside your house, close it, and then go back outside and open the tap to drain any remaining water. Disconnect your garden hoses, drain them completely, and store them in the garage or basement. If you don’t, the water inside will freeze and burst the pipe or the faucet. If you have an irrigation or sprinkler system, you absolutely cannot skip this: you must hire a company to come and do a “winterization blow-out.” They use a massive air compressor to force every last drop of water out of the lines. Don’t cheap out on this, because if those pipes freeze and crack underground, you’re looking at a massive repair bill in the spring. In your garden beds, cut back all the dead perennial stems and clean them up. For sensitive things like roses, mound some extra soil or thick mulch around the base to insulate them. Finally, clean the mud off your shovels and rakes, dry them, and put them away. For your lawn mower, either run the gas tank dry or add “fuel stabilizer” to the tank. If you don’t, I guarantee it won’t start for you in April.
Get all this done in October or early November, and you can actually relax this winter.
Tags: Tree Service Toronto, Arborist Toronto, Tree Trimming, Tree Pruning GTA, Tree Removal, Emergency Tree Service, Hazard Assessment, Ice Storm Damage, Tree Health, GTA, Mississauga, Brampton, Markham, Vaughan, Richmond Hill, Oakville, Burlington, Pickering, Ajax, Whitby, Oshawa, Newmarket, Aurora