Southampton - The clocks have been set back an hour, on a clear day the sky is rosy before dark, and the leaves rustle underfoot where you walk. There can be no doubt that fall is here. But, wait, did somebody say leaves? Uh oh. It's time to rake those leaves and get them ready for pick-up and disposal. And come spring, your lawn will thank you for it, according to local garden center experts.

Local hardware stores offer the biodegrable bags that can be used for leaf clean-up.

"The main reason people should clean up their leaves is that they'll kill the grass," said Charlie Whitmore of Charlie Whitmore Gardens in Amagansett.

So, what should you do with all the leaves? It depends on where you live in the Hamptons. Hamptons.com checked with the highway and public works departments in the area and asked about their leaf collection programs.

In East Hampton, Scott King, highway department superintendent, said leaves will be collected from town roads from November 9 to December 11. Residents are asked to place loose leaves in piles near the road. The trucks, which are equipped with vacuums and special blades that mulch the leaves in the truck, will not pick-up brush or other debris. About 20 men are hired each year to man the trucks and collect the leaves.

The 12 trucks will make several passes through Springs, Northwest Woods, Wainscott, and Amagansett. Separate trucks will also pick-up leaves in Montauk streets over the same period.

Although it is not required, King advocates bagging leaves in bio-degradable paper bags. The trucks will collect these bags if people leave them by the road next to their houses, he said.

Scott King, East Hampton Highway Department superintendent.

"If we went to a large-scale bag system, where everyone was bagging their leaves in these paper bags, we could save a lot of money," King said. But the bag system, which started last year, hasn't been all that popular, he said.

The bags can be purchased at Village Hardware in East Hampton. In the Village of East Hampton, four vacuum trucks are used to pick up loose leaves that have been placed on the road's edge. The leaf pick-up program there began October 15 and ends December 11, according to Mike Bouker, deputy superintendent of public works for the village.

"The leaves must be free of sticks, limbs and other debris," he said. The trucks will make several passes through village streets during the leaf pick-up program. After December 11, village residents will have to dispose of their leaves themselves, he said.

In Westhampton, loose leaf collection started last week and will continue until December 15, according to George Gordon, highway superintendent. The leaves should be placed near the road, and left loose, not bagged, he said. The three trucks and a payloader the town uses will, as with other towns, make several passes along town streets for the duration of the leaf collection. The payloader picks the leaves up and dumps them in the trucks, he said. The town will not pick-up stumps or branches or other debris. "We're asking people to put their leaves out as soon as possible so we can get to them," he said.

The town uses the payloader and truck combination because it is faster than the vacuum truck, Gordon said.

A resident in Springs got an early start, gathering leaves into several biodegradable bags. This is just the tip of the iceberg, the resident said, as she expects to fill more than 50 bags by the end of the leaf season.

Bill Masterson, superintendent of highways for the town of Southampton, said the town's leaf program begins on November 16, and "it ends when we finish," sometime around the end of the year if the weather is clear.

"Obviously we try to get it done as quick as possible, but sometimes the weather doesn't cooperate. The same guys who pick-up the leaves plow the snow, so if they are plowing snow, they won't be picking up leaves," he said. Residents should put their leaves, loose or in plastic bags, on the edge of their property and the trucks, which tow giant vacuums, will pick them up. The trucks will pick up small brush and branches--no thicker than three inches in diameter--in separate piles, but will not pick up any leaves mixed with the yard debris.

In Southampton Village, the leaves program started November 2 and runs until December 31. Two payloaders and eight dump trucks make several passes through village streets, according to John Brostowski, highway department supervisor. Leaves will be picked up loose or in the biodegradable paper bags, which, in Southampton, are available at Herricks hardware store. The village will not pick-up leaves in plastic bags or leaves mixed with debris.