Leaves

[Don M.]

If leaves had any commercial value, I'd be filthy rich. Here's an aerial view of our place, taken a couple of years ago...it shows about 1/2 acre of our property...the rest of the 40 acres is trees. I'll be raking, mulching, and blowing leaves for several days, once they all fall off....good Fall exercise.

 

[Marie5656]

Nice piece of land. Wish I had something like that. I get some leaves, though. My neighbor has a mulcher, and he does them for me.

 

[Ruth n Jersey]

Beautiful property Don. We have an acre with a lot of trees. It is a rural area so the town won't pick them up. We recently took down our shed and fenced the area in. Now we have a place for the leaves. Last year I cut my garden in half using one part for the leaves. I was surprised how well my cantaloupes grew in just a little soil and the rotting leaves.

 

[SeaBreeze]

Your property is so pretty Don, I'd love to have that kind of acreage around my house, but I'm in the suburbs on a small lot. I imagine it is lots of work for sure!

 

[Don M.]

Beautiful property Don. We have an acre with a lot of trees. It is a rural area so the town won't pick them up. We recently took down our shed and fenced the area in. Now we have a place for the leaves. Last year I cut my garden in half using one part for the leaves. I was surprised how well my cantaloupes grew in just a little soil and the rotting leaves.

Yup, the leaves make pretty good fertilizer. I blow a bunch of them into my garden in the Fall, let them "marinate", then till them into the soil in the Spring. Like you say, they really boost the soil nicely. I have to run the leaf blower every couple of days to blow them away from the house, then once the trees are pretty well bare, and the weather is dry, I put the mulching plate on my riding mower, and grind them up in the yard...where they can rot through the Winter, and add some good nutrients for next years lawn. Between working on the leaves, and splitting more firewood for our outdoor wood furnace, I can count on many days of good outdoor work whenever it is mild enough to get outdoors for awhile. I hate sitting in the house all day trying to find something worthwhile to watch on the TV.

 

[Old Dummy]

Here is a Google view of my house (red arrow) and barn/shop (white arrow). I blanked my road and creek names out. I've been here 38 years and have never raked a leaf, because I don't own a leaf rake plus I'm lazy.

My dad always thought it was kinda silly and I do too. After rotting all winter under the snow, by the second time I mow the lawn in the spring there is no evidence of any leaves anywhere, plus the chopped up material is good compost for the lawn.

I have huge walnut and hickory trees in/around the yard too, and I never pick up the nuts either. The gray squirrels get a lot of them in the fall, and by spring whatever are left are not noticeable anywhere.

I guess if it's something one enjoys doing in the fall, then that's fine. Seems like a waste of time and energy to me, so I don't do it. But YMMV!

 

[Keesha]

That’s a beautiful piece of land Don.
We’ve talked about this before but we share similar lifestyles of living in the forest with acres of trees around.

Collecting leaves used to be a chore I’d grit my teeth at each year but two years ago we got a leaf blower and my husbands been looking after them.
It’s such a relief because doing it all by hand was difficult.

Dealing with the leaves every year is a pain in the butt but I wouldn’t trade it for anything. We both enjoy where we live and have hundreds of tracker loads full of leaves to deal with each year.

 

[Ruth n Jersey]

Old Dummy you have a nice secluded spot as well. We have areas in our yard where the leaves stay wet and damp. If we let the leaves lay we have to reseed each spring or walk in mud after a rain to get to the garden. I admit I love to rake leaves. I also have to be respectful of out neighbors who rake also. We have a house on each side of us and as it is many of our leaves land in their yards.

 

[Ruth n Jersey]

Keesha, I drool over that greenhouse every time I see it. Love your property.

 

[fuzzybuddy]

All the above properties are beautiful. I have an acre and a third, with mostly pine trees. I don't know the names of the trees with leaves on my place. I never rake up the leaves. They fall, and somewhere between winter and spring, they disappear.

 

[Knight]

Similar to the beautiful property's Don M & others have we lived in the country in rural PA.

One of the many reasons to move was to get away from the work associated with grass cutting & leaf cleanup on 8 acres of land. It wasn't all bad because I used a John Deere 22 HP mower with a bagging kit. Between the leaves and grass the mound of mulch grew quite a bit over the years.

Now no grass just desert landscape and no work.

 

[Ken N Tx]

Send some here @Don M.
.

 

[Manatee]

We don't do that with palm trees.