The fall season can be stunningly beautiful. As the leaves change colors, they paint pictures with vibrant reds, oranges, and yellows. While these leaves can be wonderful to look at while they’re on trees, they can be quite the nuisance when they begin to fall, especially if they fall into your pool. So what can you do to keep this beautiful season out of your pool?

Plant Your Trees Away from Your Pool

The more distance you have between the trees and your pool, the fewer leaves will be likely to fall directly into it. The same goes for any twigs and seeds that might fall. Things falling into your pool aren’t the only problem trees can cause for your pool. Roots can do some structural damage too. Plant any new trees a minimum of five feet away from your pool. Generally, the further away from your pool the trees are, the better.

Rake Your Leaves

It’s not just the leaves that are actively falling you need to worry about. The ones that have already fallen can easily be picked up by the wind and blown into your pool. Raking up your leaves and disposing of them will keep that from happening. As an added bonus, it can also help you avoid lawn damage that could come as a result of a dense layer of leaves being left to cover the grass. 

Use a Pool Cover

Certainly the easiest way to avoid spending hours cleaning leaves out of your pool is to keep them from entering it in the first place. That’s where a pool cover can come in handy. There are a ton of different types of pool covers that you can choose from depending on how you want them to work for your pool. While pool covers aren’t meant to be a guarantee against people or animals falling in, they can reduce the attractiveness of your pool to people who shouldn’t be using it, making your pool a cleaner and safer feature for your home.

No one wants to spend hours fishing leaves out of their pool. By taking steps like planting trees away from your pool (or having your pool installed away from your trees), raking your leaves up shortly after they fall, and using a pool cover, you can reduce the amount of time you spend doing just that. That way you can spend more time enjoying the fall season instead of cleaning up after it.

If you have a hot tub, but don’t intend to use it during the winter, be sure to read this next: How to Winterize a Hot Tub.