I also have trees around my pool. In the fall, I just stay after removing the leaves that fall in the pool by using a leaf rake and also my Polaris 65 which does a great job at picking up big stuff such as leaves. Then, once the trees have dropped all the leaves, the water stays clear.

I never liked covering my pool. First of all, I hate looking at a covered pool. I would much rather look at my water. Secondly, on a 27' pool, the cover is HUGE and a real pain to deal with. It was hard to clean off in the spring, difficult to fold up and store and when I would remove it in the spring, the mix of disintegrating leaves and nasty water would inevitably end up in the pool murking up the water that had remained clear over the winter.

So, several years ago, I just decided to not fool with the cover. Now, over the winter, I don't have to do anything with the pool at all. No hassling with using a sump pump to pump nasty water off the cover. I have not regretted my decision to not cover the pool at all.