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4 water-related tips as you ‘fall back’ for winter

Nov. 3 marks the end of daylight saving time, giving you an extra hour of sleep — and a winter weather wake-up call.

Ahh, the end of daylight saving time. That wonderful day when you get to set back your clocks and gain an hour of extra sleep — or productivity, if you’re the enterprising type.

And while many of you may be familiar with the call to change the batteries in your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors this time of year, we’d like to add four water-related reminders to the list:

Forget the bags — mulch leaves right into the grass to provide nutrients for the lawn.

Forget the bagsmulch leaves right into the grass to provide nutrients for the lawn.

1. Empty your rain barrels. Now that it’s legal to capture rainwater in 55-gallon water barrels, it’s time to dump out any existing water for the winter. If the barrel is still full when the temperature drops below freezing, it will freeze and crack.

2. Take care of your landscape. To avoid a yard full of leaves and fungus over the next few months, follow these 5 DIY fall landscape tips to keep your yard alive through the cold, dark winter.

3. Winterize your sprinklers. You won’t need to water your lawn once it freezes over with ice and snow. Turn off and drain your sprinkler systems to avoid underground leaks in the spring, and turn off outdoor faucets and disconnect your hoses. Check out more tips on how to keep your irrigation system intact.

4. Check your indoor pipes. Once the weather gets colder, pipes in your house can freeze and expand, causing them to burst. Make sure you know the location of your water shut-off valve and insulate pipes close to exterior walls or in unheated basements. Get more details and more cold weather tips.

Disconnect your hose before it freezes and cracks the pipes feeding the spigot.