Leaves Everywhere or a Clean Yard?
The season for yardwork is here. For some people that reads as a non-issue, but for others loads upon loads of labor could be at hand. Here’s some things to consider before you crawl into bed and try to sleep through the entirety of autumn instead.
Bagging Leaves
Bagging leaves seems like the way to go for those who want an ultra-tidy yard. This means dragging out the rakes, the bags, and maybe that huge funny looking green bag-holder tube. Many hours will pass… maybe even 20-40 cleaning up leaves this way if you have a lush yard with eight or more large trees. Figure that trees dump leaves in multiple phases, and different trees fall at different times – the bag method is probably the worst method of all, time-wise. Days spent this way mean you are bending over all day, and the older you get the harder this becomes.
Mowing Leaves
This is the easiest and possibly the best way to go. If you time things right you can mow leaves, even in yards with considerable amounts of trees. Here’s what helps:
- Wait until there’s actually enough leaves down to matter
- Give the fallen leaves time to dry out. Then they shrink and will turn into smaller particles when the mower goes over top of them.
- If it’s going to rain, let it happen. When the rain wetness dries out, the leaves often shrink up to the smallest and easiest-to-disintegrate pieces after mowing.
- Time the mows. If you hit the right spot and write it down this year, then next year you don’t have to guess and gauge – which often leads to unnecessary mows. If you give yourself a little chart, then when the next autumn comes you know to just mow on… September 25th, October 15th, and November 3rd for example. How easy is that?
Paying for Leave Removal Service
Hiring a lawn service is always an option. The prices can be fair considering how much work it gets you out of. They can bring in their industrial mowers with huge waste bags, and probably handle your leaves in an hour.
Leave Blowers Are Faster Than Rakes
Electric leaf blowers are pretty powerful these days, and they take no maintenance compared to gas-powered. Getting a long extension chord and firing up the blower is an easy way to get leaves out of gardens, walkways, and other nooks and crannies around the yard. Doing this part early in the autumn is a mistake however, save this finishing detail for just before the last leaf-gobbling mow!
Aside from the first 20 minutes, handling leaves isn’t much fun. These tricks will help. There is a difference between getting the leaves done as fast as possible, and having an ultra-pristine clean tidy yard. It can be interesting to have an acre without a single fallen leaf on the ground, but it’s obviously not necessary. Nature is nature, and a little imperfection defines it. Feeling less pressure in the fall and winter is a pretty good idea!