Falling leaves could damage your lawn

WESTFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) - With leaves on the ground and leaves on the trees, it certainly feels like fall anywhere you go in western Massachusetts.

After spending much of mid-October in the Berkshires, peak foliage has now made it to the lower Pioneer Valley.

"We love the orange, where we live in Westfield we have a couple of maple trees and they're finally changing. When the sun sets it gets behind the trees and it brightens them up so beautifully," said Larry Deschaine in Westfield.

With some cooler nights and breezy days, the leaves are now making their transition.

While the leaves this season have looked really great up in the trees, once they've fallen down to the ground they could actually cause you some problems if they stay there too long.

If the leaves are left on the grass when the snow comes, the moisture from the snow will become trapped, leading to mold which, if left through the winter, can ruin your lawn.

"The grass will be flat and you're going to see brown spots. You're going to see what they call "snow mold" areas and that's very difficult to bring back once you have that sort of thing," said Aldo Orlandi of Westfield Home and Garden Center.

To prevent these issues, give your grass a good final raking once the leaves have stopped falling and cut your grass low on your last mowing before winter.

A little snow on the leaves won’t kill your lawn, but if you let it sit for a while, costly problems could develop for you.