It's a rule I should live by, but all too often don't. There are about a jillion leaves in the front and back yards -- and it's supposed to rain for the next three days, starting tomorrow.
Great. This was news to me; I thought I had the week to clear them up, a little at a time. Not so much. Not at all.
"Do it now." Tomorrow may be too late.
I actually prefer to rake the leaves after a rainfall; they pack up much denser in the government-mandated paper bags we're required to use. I usually "bulk-out" before I "gross-out" when bagging leaves, but with wet leaves I can easily hit the (government-mandated) 40-lb. limit. When they're damp they also stay in place when you're raking with a little wind.
ReplyDeleteThe big maple tree in the front yard has changed color, but hasn't dropped a darned thing. The silver maples in the neighborhood have just started to drop, and the king-oak tree a couple of houses down has dumped everything, almost overnight.
Our house is a two-story with gutters, and yesterday was the first of what will be many times of wrestling the extension ladder all the way around the house, along with the hose to blast the downspouts free of the big clogs. We bought this place twenty-some years ago, and I didn't use to mind the whole process. Now approaching sixty, I find that it's getting harder every year.
I can only figure that the earth is simultaneously getting larger (everything is taller, trails are longer, mountains higher) and more dense (everything weighs more than it used to). The only other explanation that people have mentioned is so silly that I won't believe it.
I waited so long last year that the leaves decomposed for me.
ReplyDeleteI may try that tactic again this year.
Then again, I don't tend to get full-yard-smothering-carpet of leaves.
Mulching mower for the win!
ReplyDeleteRaz
ditto on the mulching mower!
ReplyDeleteWell, one way to look at it is leave the @#%*& leaves on the yard and have much less grass to mow next year.
ReplyDeleteIn all seriousness, years back when work turned into mandatory 12 hrs. daily and zero days off for a number of months in a row I seriously considered mowing the yard one last time and then killing it with Roundup and spray-painting it green.
A fresh, sharp blade on a high-vacuum mulching mower on lowest speed setting is also effective...
Wanna borrow my lawn tractor? :)
ReplyDeleteSeriously, I can't see sucking them up and bagging them just in time for the rest of them to come off the trees. I'd say at least half of them are still up there, mocking me.