First off, give your equipment a good washing. Before you coil up that hose, spray your mower deck and get rid of all that caked on grass and dirt. Removing dirt and grass will keep your equipment from rusting.

Then, check belts, blades, tires, etc. to see fi there is anything that needs to be replaced. Now is the best time to change these things out. That way you’re ready to go in the spring.

Now that your mower is in good condition for storage, here are some additional tips for taking great care of your equipment.

Store your mower with as little fuel as possible. By spring any fuel in the tank will be stale because gasoline breaks down as it sits. It gets sticky, like a varnish. Put some fuel stabilizer in the tank to avoid coating all your parts with this varnish-like stale fuel. The best way to make sure you have as little fuel as possible is to simply run the thing until it runs out of gas.

While the engine is warm, change the oil. A warm engine will allow you to get more of the old oil out. Fresh oil and a new filter not only ensure that your mower is ready to go in the spring, but keeps your engine from sitting in that grimy oil all winter long.

Other parts to consider replacing are spark plugs, air filter, and fuel filter. These are usually replaced in a pre-season servicing, but we’re trying to get ahead of the game and get your equipment ready to roar in the spring.

If you have a lawn tractor, charge the battery and remove the cables. This will keep the battery from leaking its charge. If you have a battery tender, hook that up to your battery on a trickle charge. It will give your battery a little bit of charge all winter long and ensure that when you hook it up in the spring your riding mower will start right off.

Check the tire pressure on your riding mower and add air if necessary. Then tuck it in a corner of the garage and cover it up to keep dust off it.

Follow these tips and in the spring all you’ll have to do is fill your tank with gasoline, make sure the tires have stayed inflated, hook up the battery, and start it up.

Trimmers also need some preparation for sitting idle over the winter. As with your mower, run the machine until all the fuel is gone. Then add fuel stabilizer to the tank to keep it from gumming up. Check the air filter and spark plug to see that they are still in good condition. If not, replace them. And, of course, make sure you store them inside, out of the weather. Take good care of your trimmer in the fall and it’ll fire for you on the first pull in the spring.

It is also a good idea that any fuel or fuel mix you have left this fall is used up. Always get fresh fuel in the spring for your mowers and trimmers. The fresher the fuel the better the volatility and therefore the better it will run in your engine.

One last thought, try to use up the last of the fuel mix in your gas can. If you can help it you don’t want to store that over the winter. It breaks down in the can just like it does in the machine. Ideally, you want to mix a fresh can of fuel in the spring so you’re filling with new fuel rather than stale.