Submitted by MongooseProXC t3_z4o28p in Connecticut
Every year, I bag and either take my leaves to the dump or wait for pickup. So far, I probably filled 40 bags and I'm not even close to done. Pulled my back pretty bad while doing it too. How does everyone take care of their leaves? I don't have a tractor or a place on my property to dump them. Thank you.
Like everyone says, mow them up. After the final mow, anything that comes down gets piled onto my veggie beds, or blown into my flower borders — and there it stays all winter long, insulating my plants and giving a home to beneficial insects. I'm mid spring, I rake everything out onto the lawn, spread it out, and mow it then.
I hit them with the mower, mulched leaves take up less space.
I don't touch them, they don't clean up after me.
Mulch them into oblivion with your mower.
I just leave them until my neighbor gets tired of the wind pushing them back onto his yard and he does it for me 🫡🫡
Mulch them with lawn mower. You have to start early and do this a few times per week when they start falling. If the mulch builds up, I blow them to a pile and dispose of.
Get a heavy duty mulching mower that pulls itself. As an old man I gotta warm up to keep up with the thing! You really have to do trouble areas often just run over as many as you can now. Then do it in the spring. Just keep driving over them with the mower.
We mow them and let it go! It's a pain in the butt to rake and bag for something like leaves.
I put mulch blades on my mower, pulverize the ever loving shit out of them. I have a compost bin so I use my bagger and toss some with my food scraps. Unless you have oak leaves, those don’t breakdown easily then I don’t have an easy solution for you.
That might be it. I have tons of oak leaves and mulching is not easy. It gets too thick. Even mulched it leaves a layer. That's why I usually bag.
You can also bag them up and put them At the end of your driveway with a free leaves sign. Or make a post about free leaves. Many gardeners would be willing to take them for free.
mow em over. I use a tractor but a regular mower will work fine too.
>I don't have a tractor or a place on my property to dump them.
Then I'll be no help. I have a wooded strip at one edge of my property. I use an 8HP Little Wonder leaf blower and just blow them all into the woods.
Before they moved, one of my neighbors used to just pile the leaves at the edge of his property and call a service to haul them away. A truck would show up with what was essentially a huge vacuum hose and suck up the pile - no bagging necessary.
Depending on your age and whether or not you're religious, some churches also do "rake and bake" events where they get parishioners together to help clean yards for people that are older or disabled and can't do it themselves.
Good luck!
Really, you should just leave them alone and let nature do its thing. But I understand lots of people care more about having a "good lawn" vs a good and healthy environment. So if you really feel the need to remove them, mulching them is slightly better.
This year I actually raked all my leaves onto the lawn and then used my lawn mower with mulching blade to grind them as small as possible. I have a battery powered mower so it took like 4-5 charges and several passes to grind everything down, but only the big leaves are left. I will do a little more raking and mowing this weekend but I should be all done for the year hopefully. The smaller you cut them the faster they disappear, and they return their nutrients to the soil.
For all my stuff in the back that I normally let sit, I'm thinking of making a chicken wire cage for a mulch pile. I was watching a couple videos where a guy put all his leaves in one and then made sure to wet and toss them to help air get in and aid in bacteria breakdown. He also took a weed Wacker to grind them into smaller pieces to break down faster. Great high nitrogen fertilizer for the garden!
Consider /r/lawncare for some advice too!
Mulch it twice and it will all fly away.
May not be helpful if you can't tow it, but I use a zero turn mower towing a lawn sweeper. My driveway is lined with a Beech and 8 Sugar Maples and I have a 250+ year old Oak next to the house. Mowing over the leaves so they're confetti then sweeping them in the same pass was an absolute game-changer for the amount of time I had to spend on leaf pickup. It went from a dreaded chore to a 2-3 hour task.
Washer, then dryer. I don’t bother folding them.
Fabric softener?
Mow them into bits.
I have good mulching blades on my mower and just mulch them into the grass. They break down over winter and the grass always thrives with no fertilizer in the spring.
Mulch it with the mower, suck up with mower/bagger, dump in rows, cover rows clear plastic, water it, turn it in like May, maybe mix in a bag of lime if I have extra. Clear plastic, full sun. I try to compost every leaf. I'll be out there chasing down a leaf. Leaves blow in but they don't blow out. I use the compost to replenish garden beds and green up/fill in the lawn, or I leave it in place and grow pumpkins or strawberries in it.
Blow them into a pile, rake them onto a large tarp and them dump them in a pile in the back of my property that I'm been trying to level for a decade.
The tarp method is the wtg imo, I used to transport the leaves with a tarp to the burn pile. Barely broke a sweat
We use a service called Lawn Starter, and for $150 they come and take all our leaves away for us.
Step 1) Cut your grass short in September and again in October.
Step 2) Mulching/mowing is best. A tractor makes it easy but any lawnmower can do it. Do it weekly because of you let leaves pile up you'll be sorry.
After years of raking, bagging and multiple trips to the dump for 40-50 bags of leaves, I just pay a guy $300 for a Fall cleanup. Time is money, and a freed up weekend is worth more to me than $300.
Blow them into my liberal neighbors yard. He hates confrontation.
I'd be like "thanks for the leaves dumbass, free nutrients for composting."
Me too. Free leaves. Great mulch.
🔥 🔥 🔥
With a sponge
Tractor in one direction down the yard into the woods. Sorry that doesnt help you.
Blow them into the forest behind my house
I take them to the dry cleaners
contrary to what everyone thinks, it's not good to mulch leaves into your lawn. Leaf compost is acidic which lowers the soil pH and essentially kills grass, causes moss growth and soil compaction. to keep a healthy lawn, you're forced to lime it then fertilize the lawn to get the green to compensate. It's stress on the lawn and just more chemicals put into the ground water.
The study by Michigan State University states otherwise. https://www.canr.msu.edu/resources/mulch_leaves_into_turf_for_a_smart_lawn
I know from years of experience and doing my own soil pH tests and grinding leaves in to a lawn. Fuck MSU. they're not in CT.
if you want to dump man-made chemicals to fix your lawn to compensate for acidity, knock yourself out.
I prefer evidence based research.
Composted leaf mulch is incredibly good for your lawn, flower beds, veggie beds, etc. Is it so Ph neutral (very, very slightly acidic) that it doesn't even injure seedlings. You can grow seeds in a mix of leaf compost and potting soil. It loosens up compacted soil improving soil structure and drainage. I've never put any chemicals in my lawn, always mulch-mow my leaves, and my gardens are fantastic.
Some of this is legit for new lawns. Established lawns can handle it. Only thing you have to worry about is blotting out the sun. Bare spots tend to get an accumulation of leaf mulch, and then new grass can't grow there in the fall or spring. Avoid this with scarification. I use tow behind tools, a core aerator and tine dethatcher.
> you’re forced to lime it then fertilize the lawn to get the green
No one’s forcing you buddy, beyond some weird “green lawn” fetish
dresslover27 t1_ixrz6l0 wrote
You have real answers
I clean mine with soap and water then a bit of polish for a nice shine