raking leaves

[MrHunters]

hated it as a kid
hate it as a big kid.

4 hrs yesterday, 4 hrs today.



ironically, I will gladly trade the leave raking job when i was a kid to the leave raking job now.

[Backbeach Jake]

My favorite part of raking was burning leaves back when that was allowed. Loved the smell, now it means the friggin neighborhood vandals have set the woods on fire again.

[BigFish]

I rake mine....with a lawnmower!!!!

[MrHunters]

Originally Posted by BigFish

I rake mine....with a lawnmower!!!!

i have to finish with that tomorrow

[ProfessorM]

I agree run em over with the mower with the bag and compost them.

[eastendlu]

Originally Posted by BigFish

I rake mine....with a lawnmower!!!!

I wait for a noreaster and my neighbor gets my leaves then his landscaper cleans them up.

[Raven]

my back pack leaf blower needs to have the carb blown out

then it'll work again.....but that will be just to make windrows

to run them over with the lawn mower.....like larry says...

and then i'll spread the confetty sized leaves on the garden and til them in... and let the worms eatem

[Raven]

our greatest fun as kids was to sneak in some chestnuts
into the pile of leaves while burning them while the attendee
wasn't looking...then run back and pretend we never left our spot

then we'd watch as the guy stood near the pile and the chestnuts would blow up scaring the crap outta him...

[Mike P]

Originally Posted by BigFish

I rake mine....with a lawnmower!!!!

Great minds think alike

[striperman36]

I blow mine into my neighbors yard, depending on the wind. Works well.
The rest get mowed

[BigFish]

ProfessorM......no bag on my mower.....mulch!

MikeP......

[EricW]

I bought a 20hp garden tractor several years ago mainly for this very purpose. I have tried every method, raking, blowing, yard vacuum, but the best in my opinion is the tractor. Sucks every last leaf up. If anyone else does it this way, I got "bagging" blades for my tractor and it picks up even better. I notice way more airflow coming up the chute. Most of them come with mulching blades when new. I always compost my stuff and never mulch so it works out great. I truly don't mind the exercise of raking leaves, and I still do a little to get hard to reach places, but I find the whole raking process so inefficient, because of the amount of work needed to achieve the end result.

[Slingah]

The first year we were in the house I raked them...I got 120 of those big yard bags.....frig that....it took forever too..now we wait till they all fall and hire someone......I'll get a small tractor one of theses days

[ProfessorM]

I prefer to compost them as they are still a little too big to be left on the lawn, esp. maple leaves. I take all the neighbors leaves too and roto them into the garden and also mulch all my shrubs with them. Cheaper than wood chips and way more beneficial for the plants. Raking is way better for the lawn as it drags out the crap and stuff in the lawn, I can't think of the word right now, which helps the health of the lawn but I am too lazy to rake all the lawn. As it is I try and eliminate some of my lawn every year with plantings and shrubs. Lawns, good looking lawns that is, require way too much work and chemicals to make it worth while to me.

[Swimmer]

I suck em up in the tractor. Mixed in with grass they start to compost. I help by adding lime to the mixture of browns and greens. The place I put them is inside a circular fence about ten feet across. I do rake them also though up onto a green plastic tarp and drag them to where the compost pile is. It does suck. Some people never rake and thier leaves blow in everyone else's yard. One of my neighbors has two huge maples that has not lost a leave yet. When they do fall they'll blow right over into my and my neighbors yard. Oh well, be down cellar soon working on the rods and putzing with some lures.

[BigFish]

Only time I will touch a rake is to clean up in the spring!!

[ProfessorM]

Dam I was talking about stupid leaves and I missed the duplicator sale.

[Raven]

a nite crawler dragging a piece of dry dog food with its suction cup mouth over to it's burrow and thought about this for a long time.

Charles Darwin discovered that they actually can decide which end of a leaf to grab.... the pointed end of say a birch leaf thats [in the shape of an arrow head] and drag that into the ground into their tunnel or burrow and line the walls with it making the leaf curl into a tube.

so i always grind up the leaves for them to add organic matter to the soil. I think of leaves as free dollars not as a pain in the ass trash.

Swimmer:
you need to add some soil to your compost and a little
nitrogenous matter... some form of manure and the soil is to distribute the micro organisms found in the soil ...through out the pile, also you can buy a can of activator and sprinkle it into your pile .

A properly made compost pile should reach 180 degrees in the center in just one week.... then you turn it by pitchfork ,the outsides to the middle and wait another week till it reaches 180 degrees again . By then it should have decreased in size by 1/2 or your not doing it right.

[ProfessorM]

Thatch is the word I was trying to think of on the above post. Raking is good way to eliminate thatch.


I have a giant compost bin. My town dump will not take any yard waste anymore as I think most do now. They do however let you bring leaves to the dump and they make several house size piles and turn it with the bucket loader and you can go there and get as much compost as you want. I do the lazy man's approach and just let it rot down itself. Takes a year longer but no muscle needed. All my kitchen scraps go in to. I have to keep it well fence to keep the damn dog out. The mowed over leaves rot so much faster than just putting in whole ones. Grass clippings will heat it up good too but does stink a little and I prefer to mulch the grass on the lawn. I also add lots of sod to the pile to as I am trying to eliminate the lawn. It is full of worms. My pile has been going for so long I always have some real nice black gold to use. I sometimes go down to the school ball field night crawling after or during a rain to add to the pile too. I use the compost as a medium for all my seedlings. It works great.

[Flaptail]

Spent all day Saturday doing it. 1st, whip out the lawn mower and just chew everything up , needles and leaves then some touch up raking. A little winter fertilizer, store the summer outdoor furniture, re-putty two windows and done, got big points with Mama for getting it done.

[Rockfish9]

I live in a Pine and cedar swamp... They stay where they lay....most of my yard is moss ,if what little grass there is dies,it's one less thing to do in the summer...

[capesams]

my wife......says she doesn't want any sign of leaves,twig's ,,chewed up or otherwise....so it takes about one day every weekend for a month plus to blowem into a pile..suck an grind and off the property they go.
No Points where I live..it's your job she says..house repairs.painting.yard work..bla-bla...which is fine cause she does dirty clothes,cooking,food shoppin an inside house cleanin.....most of the time.

[Raven]

Originally Posted by ProfessorM

I sometimes go down to the school ball field night crawling after or during a rain to add to the pile too. I use the compost as a medium for all my seedlings. It works great.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Paul, Do you use a red head lamp when night crawling?
as they don't react to red light at all.

My Personal Best ...."record" for getting them was 326 in 1 hour.

by the way ...speaking of sun rooms...the green house is 95% completed and i am down to insulating now with that pink styrene board which i also got for free...

it's T-Shirt weather in there and i just now hung the big round thermometer ...when i step out into the barn it feels like going into a very air conditioned room.

[Backbeach Jake]

Originally Posted by Raven

a nite crawler dragging a piece of dry dog food with its suction cup mouth over to it's burrow and thought about this for a long time.

Charles Darwin discovered that they actually can decide which end of a leaf to grab.... the pointed end of say a birch leaf thats [in the shape of an arrow head] and drag that into the ground into their tunnel or burrow and line the walls with it making the leaf curl into a tube.

so i always grind up the leaves for them to add organic matter to the soil. I think of leaves as free dollars not as a pain in the ass trash.

Swimmer:
you need to add some soil to your compost and a little
nitrogenous matter... some form of manure and the soil is to distribute the micro organisms found in the soil ...through out the pile, also you can buy a can of activator and sprinkle it into your pile .

A properly made compost pile should reach 180 degrees in the center in just one week.... then you turn it by pitchfork ,the outsides to the middle and wait another week till it reaches 180 degrees again . By then it should have decreased in size by 1/2 or your not doing it right.

My brother in law used to make a compost heated green house at his school. He'd start in February, getting a huge jump on planting season. When planting time came he had tons of great compost. You could work in that green house in the coldest weather in shirt sleeves.

[justplugit]

Using lime to keep the PH around neutral , 5-6,will give the bacteria the optimal
enviornment to breakdown the matter and keep any odor down too.