Watching the Leaves begin to fall.
Am I ready for this? No.
Am I ever ready for this, I wonder? I doubt it.
Am I ready for this? No.
Am I ever ready for this, I wonder? I doubt it.
But thank heavens for my handy-dandy tools! This is what it takes from me to try to keep up:
My Lawn Sweeper and tarp:
(These first few photos were taken Nov. 3, 2008)
(These first few photos were taken Nov. 3, 2008)
Nice work, eh?It helps to do this every few days...
Otherwise, you'll see something like this!
(Backyard; End of October, 2007)
Lawn Sweeper and tarp to the rescue!
Now, you must meet the other great Fall Toy!
Mr. Leaf Shredder!
Mr. Leaf Shredder!
Give him a tarp of leaves ...
(you can place him in a bag, just don't let it get too full while he's in there)
And it won't be long until that whole pile has been reduced!
You may remember that last September 23, I was busy dodging acorns being thrown to the ground by the wind, squirrels and/or generous trees...
Do you remember what I did?I used Mr. Shady's Shop Vac! lol
If I remember correctly, I picked up quite a number of 5-gallon buckets of acorns for the ravine. Perhaps That is what kept the squirrels out of the yard last Winter?? All the acorns were down there! ha.
At any rate, there are a great number of acorns again this year - but not as many. And I'm not doing that this year! :-)
At any rate, there are a great number of acorns again this year - but not as many. And I'm not doing that this year! :-)
25 comments:
This is the only thing I dread about Fall... those darn fallen leaves. Hubby was thinking of buying one of those leaf sweepers like you have. From looking at your pics it appears to work really well! I'll have to show him your post. -Jackie
I want Mr. Leaf Shredder to come visit me! He looks very handy.
Vacuuming up the acorns. What a hoot. I wish I had had that vacuum last year when we had a record number of ash seeds. UGH... I think about a gazillion germinated where I just blew them off the patio into the flower beds. They even germinated out in the front lawn. Unbelieveable.
Holy cow!!!! I have never seen so many leaves! That leaf sweeper is too cool! You definitely need one...or 2 or 3! looks like you have all the bases covered!
Hi Ellie Mae, It works the best if the lawn has been mowed. You can raise and lower the brushes. I like it. It doesn't hold many at a time, but that's okay. :-)
MMD, Mr. Leaf Shredder is very handy. It operates with a couple of plastic "whips." It doesn't much like branches, however. Make sure you use your ear plugs!
Lisa, It was a hoot. I really didn't mind it (as long as I had the time to spare). If you notice, it was still nice enough to work outdoors last year through the first part of November. Most of the time, it's freezing and often snowy/icy by then. Wonder what we'll be experiencing this year? I have the a problem with Burning Bush seedlings!
Dirt Princess, Everything would go even faster if there were 2 or three (plus two or three other people!) ;-) (Holy Cow is definitely one of my expressions!) lol.
I'm thinking you have quite a bit of good compost coming! I use my bagger mower for gathering leaves. I get the grass clippings too but the green and brown material go good together!
Wow , What an organized person to solve the leaf problem........ I agree about squirrels anyone elses garden but mine please........lol
Dave, I have Way more than I need for my compost pile, but all those piles at the ravine eventually also break down. I think of it as "extending the property" a bit! :-)
Rosemary, There's got to be a way to attempt to keep ahead... You know how it is, though. The wind sometimes provides a helping hand. Once I get the leaves picked up, it blows in a few more! ;-) One year, one of my neighbors fed the squirrels instead of the birds. That was okay with me!
Hey, I don't get many leaves, just millions of pine needles. Want to trade? :)
Like the idea of the acorns as a decoy.
Rosey
Those tools do make the work a little easier. I think my parents had one at their old house. I noticed our neighbor had his shop vac in the garden the other day, I wondered what he was doing with it.
Yep, remember your post from last year. Also remember having the same issues when I first bought my house about 10 years ago but here they pick them up at the curb. Back then it was just Mom and me piling the leaves on a tarp...she was a great help.
Looks something like this.
Hi SG~~ Can you please tell me more about your Lawn Sweeper? With three gigantic Sweet Gum trees in my front yard, I need one of this REALLY BAD! It looks like it is manually driven as opposed to electric or gasoline. I have a push mower but the seed pods cause it to jam. I'm thinking a Google search is in order.
Thank you again for your nice comments on my blog. No Lantana is not hardy in my Zone 8 abode. I have brought it indoors during the worst temperature dips with good success but the nursery I where I buy it [in May] sells rooted plugs for, like 75 cents so wintering it is hardly worth it. Unless I had a heated greenhouse...
Oh my such efficiency. I count on the wind for the leaves and hope the squirrels take care of the acorns. :)
Add to the list: Leaf sweeper, shop vac, leaf shredder and a tarp...Did I forget anything Shady? Oh yes! Beverage of choice! gail
Rosey, Pine needles are Great Mulch for those acidic-soil loving plants! I'd love to trade a few! And I'd throw in some acorns! ;-)
Catherine, Keep an eye on that neighbor of yours... if you hear a Whine - CLUNK! Whine - CLUNK! CLUNK! CLUNK! it might be worth a stroll over there to investigate! lol! :-)
Patsi, That looks like an amazing truck. Will he make house calls to Iowa? ha.
Grace, I'm going to send you an e-mail with some information for you. The Lawn Sweeper is powered by the pusher. ;-) It's pretty lightweight.
Troutbirder. We'll see what happens this year. It's threatening SNOW this weekend. Yipes!
Wouldn't we be quite the pair, Gail? We could do tandem pickup, finish twice as quickly and have a great time afterwards! :-)
I like your methods. My husband is a funny sight to me as he goes around with a noisy leaf vacuum. He is good about putting the leaves on the compost pile, though. Now that I've said that, maybe my memory is not serving me correctly. Maybe he rakes first. Oh, I remember him mowing over the leaves first sometimes. Well, at any rate, I'm not ready for all that, either. We're expecting a killing freeze this weekend. Are you?
Would we get any work done or would we be alughing all the time! gail
Hi Sue, I can see who takes care of the lawn at your house! ;-) I'm glad he adds to your compost pile. I have a nice-sized one that gets a good amount of shredded leaves, but the rest are divided between the ravine and the final top to the mulch (that I hope to put in place during our nice warm weather these next two weeks... am I just being hopeful, or do you think we'll get it??)
Gail, We might get some work done... ;-)
That lawn sweeper is a nifty bit of kit .... I want one - NOW!
Himself uses the lawn mower to get all our trillions of leaves up, but the lawn sweeper looks WAY better :)
Wow, I could really use all three of those! 3/4 of an acre, and lots of big old trees, equal lots of leaves. We have been racking manually. but the lawn sweeper looks like a great idea and shredding them would make the storage of the leaves, much more condensed (and leaf mould faster). I think that I will have to go shopping this weekend.
Hi Nutty Gnome! :-) You can even get more done when one rakes, the other Sweeps and you both shred!
Deborah, Good luck! You have a lot of land to work! Shredding is a great idea to speed the composting. :-)
Very clever use of the shop vac. We only have a couple of small maples so we don;t get allot of leaves. I don't have a shredder, but putting the leaves on a 32 gallon trash can and firing up the weed eater does the same trick.
Chad and Brandy, Now THAT would be something to see! :-) Have a great day!
Wow! What a gal, Shady ... I want all those tools ... and NOW!!! We have over a 3/4 acre, heavily treed lot here and ... can we talk about our huge lot UP NORTH surrounded by woods! Like spring, there is much to do in fall ... and I haven't even thought about my bulbs yet!
Hi Joey, I understand completely! :-) These photos were taken last year during a nice, leisurely Fall. This year, however, we've only had cold, wet weather All Fall... I wonder if I'll ever be able to get rid of the leaves??
Are you planting many bulbs? I put 10 (ten, only) in the ground yesterday and That's It this year! ha.
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