Hi all, I'm having a good laugh here lately. I'm watching all of the people who are raking leaves.I really don't understand why folks do this. Why would you care if there are leaves on the ground ? I just leave them lay there. Why the bother ? Lets be honest here, are you a leaf raker ? Why ? DF

 

not i..... use the ride-on, it mulches, and piles them... lol

 

Can't say from personal experience, all we have is pine needles.

HOWEVER... It seems to me if you just let them sit on the ground, under all the snow and rain that this time of year brings, by the time Spring rolls around there's going to be a layer of slimy, semi-rotton leaves to clean up. Would you rather do it now, while they're dry and reletively easy to rake, or when they're ???

Just MHO.


Rory

'65 F-250 Camper Special
'68 MGB

 

In Calgary ,we have many kinds of weather in the winter.

I usually do one pass with the lawnmower to get as many as I can.
Leaving the leaves until spring helps protect from the sun & wind drying out lawn.
I usually hire one of Michelle's kid's to do a spring clean-up.
Followed by a BBQ or Pizza Feast.


Dennis

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I just suck 'em up with my lawn tractor and pile them at the curb for the county to pick up. They don't pick up in the Spring, which means I have to haul them off to the dump.

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I just mow over them. Leaves nutrients in the ground for the grass to feed off of come spring. The guys that really make me laugh are the ones who complain about it and are out there raking when there are still more that half the leaves still left on the tree. Just wait a couple more months and take care of it all at once if you hate it so much.

 

I'm in the buisness so what the customer wants the customer gets.As for my own yard i just use one of my mowers when the leaves get out of hand.



Wiz

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This is funny! I`ve often argued with my wife about this. Why rake before all of the leaves have fallen? Shoot, why rake? Looks like natural carpet to me!! Believe me that don`t hold up in court around here. We usually do it all at one time!!

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[updated:LAST EDITED ON 27-Nov-02 AT 05:35 AM (EST)]My brotherinlaw raked his yard and asked me to haul them off for him.2 truckloads later they were gone.Funny thing is he dosent have a tree in his yard but his neibors(sp?) sure do :-X23

 

Rake them up, shred them and put them in the garden. It makes for happy tomatoes.

 

I have this dilemma too. Of the 2.3 acres my house is on, about 1 acre is cleared. Most all the leaves fall within at 3 week period.
My choices are to leave the leaves on the ground for a "carpet" on the yard, or clean them up and have mud everywhere in the winter.

If I don't remove the leaves, grass won't grow. So I normally remove the leaves, and plant grass seed. The seeds won't sprout until it rains. When it rains, it washes the seeds and all my top soil into the ditch. My yard is all on a slope toward a natural drainage ditch (creek) which crosses it.

I have been fighting this cycle for about 10 years, and so far have about 1/4 of my yard in grass. Every 3 or 4 years, the summer is too dry to keep the grass alive, and water gets in short supply, so I have to start over.

My solution was to mulch the leaves and leave them in place. But that is worse for trying to get grass to grow, because there are so many of them. I have about 4000 cu ft of leaves every year, If I don't mulch them.

I only use the hand rake around the edges and next to my house. The rest of the work is done by my mower.


Winford

 

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 27-Nov-02 AT 09:39 AM (EST)]I have everyone but me do this chore. This is not productive time management for me. I'd rather pay the minimum so I can get the maximum out of my day.

 

I love it when people on the beach in swimming suits put something over their heads and run to the car when it starts sprinkling...

 

When the leaves are down around here and there is no snow(which is most of winter-today theres 4inches) the ticks are also on the ground in the leaves. We'll get 5 or 6 off the dogs on a bad day. (Worse times of year are late fall/early spring)They have there lymes vaccination so its not so bad if we miss one but for the kids its an issue so we suck the leaves up into a box trailer and compost them. (Back rock wall borders lyme,ct - lymes disease named after the town -We associate leaves on the ground with ticks on the ground)

We make a big pile out of the composted leaves near the garden.Wife grows spinach in it all year round(Not so successfully but she likes doing it). Son digs worms from under it for ice fishing in February. I just want to throw a match on it but...cant do that anymore its illegal.
The farmers around here say that when they were able to burn there leaves and fields off at the end of the growing season/fall the bug issues were nonexistent - no lymes or west nile problems.

Ray

 

I'm with you Dino. I also do nothing with my leaves. My neighbors
tree drops it's leaves first on the block. He rakes at least two times..in addition to the final grass cutting...yet my tree hasn't even started, while his yard is nice and clean. Well, you can imagine what happens when my tree finally starts...and it's amazing how the wind seems to push alot of my leaves on his nice clean lawn. I do the final cutting on the lawn..mulch what mulchs...but otherwise..no raking. I don't believe in it either...and my lawn only looks marginally worse than his does. Everyones lawn looks great in the spring and fall..and not so good in the heat of the summer. I also refuse to water my lawn..water rates are extremely high..and watering just means more mowing. So the grass goes dormant..and comes back after a decent rain anyway. Ahhh..the suburbs...
Lisa