Leaf fall has begun!

[roadrunner]

If there's one thing I've learned from collecting yard waste, i.e. leaves, is that unless you want to be sifting out trash, only gather yard waste from the million-dollar neighborhoods. Anywhere else and you'll be picking trash (including many cigarette butts) out of your leaves

 

[DirtMechanic]

If there's one thing I've learned from collecting yard waste, i.e. leaves, is that unless you want to be sifting out trash, only gather yard waste from the million-dollar neighborhoods. Anywhere else and you'll be picking trash (including many cigarette butts) out of your leaves

I get tempted by the piles left out by my neighbors but fortunatly I have enough to do and by the time I get my yard cleaned up I just do not see bothering with it all.

 

[roadrunner]

I know, sometimes I give in to those temptations...

 

[DirtMechanic]

I know, sometimes I give in to those temptations...

Stay strong

 

[roadrunner]

And I thought I was a serious collector of leaves, simply because I procured a pick up truck just for collecting leaves.

This takes it to a whole new level...I wonder what it cost him?

 

[DirtMechanic]

And I thought I was a serious collector of leaves, simply because I procured a pick up truck just for collecting leaves.

This takes it to a whole new level...I wonder what it cost him?

Two takeaways for me. 1) I seriously want a tractor. 2) If I ever splurged on one of those bigger tow behind DR leaf shredding vacuums, I am liable to get caught out in the neighborhood vacuuming up leaves.

 

[Robert Cummings]

Leaf fall has nearly finished here in the west of England UK. I am educating my customers to mix their grass cuttings with fallen leaves and other soft garden wast to make beautiful sweet smelling compost to enrich the soil in early spring. Come on people, mother nature has given you a free gift, even rotten fruit eggshells and vegetable peelings, mix together and enrich that soil...

 

[DirtMechanic]

Leaf fall has nearly finished here in the west of England UK. I am educating my customers to mix their grass cuttings with fallen leaves and other soft garden wast to make beautiful sweet smelling compost to enrich the soil in early spring. Come on people, mother nature has given you a free gift, even rotten fruit eggshells and vegetable peelings, mix together and enrich that soil...

Your are not kidding! Using my mulching mower which is a rider, and sweeping the leaf debris into a sweeping pull behind bagger, I get this crazy chopped up dense mix which I spread in thinish (6 -8-nch) lifts and wet thoroughly ( key here- wet thoroughly). Wonderful early production from the center of the pile. Did I say wet thoroughly? If you did not, the spring dig will teach you some things. Like I use a compost pile. No way those leaves go on top of grass.

 

[Gail_68]

OMG DirtMechanic I thought here was bad enough...all leaves are cleared here but further down the street they're on neighbours gardens and with a good wind they'll end up here

 

[Gail_68]

@DirtMechanic hows the leaves going mate...or shouldn't I ask

Here's clean until the lot from the top of the road blow down with a good wind

 

[DirtMechanic]

Making piles. This is about half I guess. More coming. We are usually done by late December and early January.

 

[Gail_68]

Good god it definitely keeps you on...no wonder we was both going mad

 

[roadrunner]

Around here, leaf fall lasts all winter and into the spring. We have a lot of live oaks here, my favorite leaf mulch, and the tree is not deciduous, but it's also not an evergreen, rather it's semi-deciduous and it starts losing its leaves this time of year, but very, very slowly and picks up as winter goes on, maxing out in late winter/very early spring. What's funny is that it generally only loses between 25 - 50% of its crown.

Then you got the Southern Magnolia, which is also semi-deciduous, but it doesn't start losing its leaves until early spring and it's very strange, because it drops tons of leaves, but if you look up at the tree it seems to have a full crown of leaves -- it never seems to be deficient in the number of leaves

You definitely want to mulch those leaves up with a lawn mower.

 

[DirtMechanic]

Around here, leaf fall lasts all winter and into the spring. We have a lot of live oaks here, my favorite leaf mulch, and the tree is not deciduous, but it's also not an evergreen, rather it's semi-deciduous and it starts losing its leaves this time of year, but very, very slowly and picks up as winter goes on, maxing out in late winter/very early spring. What's funny is that it generally only loses between 25 - 50% of its crown.

Then you got the Southern Magnolia, which is also semi-deciduous, but it doesn't start losing its leaves until early spring and it's very strange, because it drops tons of leaves, but if you look up at the tree it seems to have a full crown of leaves -- it never seems to be deficient in the number of leaves

You definitely want to mulch those leaves up with a lawn mower.

And watch out for the shooting seedpods while mowing! I mulch all of it in winter, but in summer we use them to hold back weeds on the trails in our ittle patch of woods.

 

[roadrunner]

And watch out for the shooting seedpods while mowing! I mulch all of it in winter, but in summer we use them to hold back weeds on the trails in our ittle patch of woods.

I've ruined two lawn mower blades on those Southern Magnolia seed pods, so I'm pretty good at sifting them out now.

I still like having them though, because they are very good for composting, I've seen on at least three occasions earthworms tunneling thru them, much like an apple. I also like them for making pathways....

 

[LouisFerdinand]

https://flic.kr/p/aJ1Lkr