The Leaves Kept Falling (and blowing)

The month of October began our annual
Autumnal Leaf Fall.

I decided I was going to
Keep Up with the Leaves this year! ;-)

To that end, this is the "before" photo -
October 3, 2008
in our front yard.

And out comes the trusty Lawn Sweeper and Tarp!

One pass is impressive, is it not?
Dump the contents from the Lawn Sweeper to The Tarp.
Haul The Tarp to the ravine and dump its contents!
Need I say more?
(Did you hear that self-satisfied sigh?)
;-)

Here we are, on October 14, 2008, looking at part of the backyard
(east side of the house) from the north.
This flowerbed is...

... at the far right of this photo.

This is the bed behind the house
(I'm not moving these leaves!)

November 4, 2008.
A larger smattering of leaves has fallen.
I have definitely fallen....
Behind!


Bring out The Tarp
And the trusty Lawn Sweeper...After clean-up efforts, this is the backyard...
with a view from the back window!
I figured this, too, was time well spent.
:-)
Since then, there have been several other forays
into the yard, so let's bring out
Mr. Shredder!


Couple him with Sweeper and the Tarp... add a rake,
and we're definitely in business! :-)How can argue with This Team?
Hip Hip Hooray! lol.

Suffice it to say, I've been out there many times.

I was outdoors yesterday (November 28)
on one more "cleaning up!"
The yard looks wonderful.

Now that Thanksgiving is over...

Please Snow!

ha?

Nothing Shady here! :-)

Just a Little More Fall Raking

Using My Favorite "Machinery!"

When I got up this morning, I found a nice-sized pile of leaves next to the driveway. So, I laid out a tarp, carried my shredder from the garage and proceeded to work them over! They were wet, so I adjusted the shredder to "coarse, wet leaves." Coarsely ground leaves is what you get. The pile on the right is the aftermath.To give you an idea of what the pile of leaves may have looked like prior the its shredding, I filled my green leaf-holder and made another pile of shredded leaves (below, on the left).
It may be hard to see, but the second pile is much smaller than the first... perhaps 1/3 the size.

It was inevitable (actually, it was my intent) that I de-leaf the front yard. It didn't take long.
I hoisted my leaf-gatherer, for lack of a better name, from the hooks on the garage wall and proceeded to harvest leaves. As each load was brought to the tarp, I turned on the shredder, picked up some leaves and dumped them in.

Here's the finished yard and its shredded leaves on the right!

Wet leaves are heavier, of course, than leaves "fresh off the tree," but shredding means about 3 to 4 fewer trips to the ravine. I'm waiting until this afternoon before I drag the tarp through the backyard. I want to allow opportunity for the leaves to dry a bit, perhaps lightening the load!

There's very little, if any, breeze this morning... in this shady, but getting sunnier, yard. By the time I return around 2:00 p.m., from a trip downtown, you can envision this nice tarpload of shredded leaves beginning to compost!

I'm Posting in the Middle of the Day!

(and I'm awarding myself a miniature rose for having met my goal!)

Wow! I needed a break! It feels good to sit down, but it feels better knowing that I've done what I set out to do this week. (Quite soon, I'll put away the remaining chairs, tables and pots.)

Yesterday, I had only 45 minutes to work outdoors, so I made one trip to the backyard with a barrow full of mulch and my pitchfork. Rather disappointing, but that's often the way it goes.

Today has been a different story! No meetings, appointments, duties (just a couple of errands to run later), no specific demands upon my time... what a wonderful feeling! So, after a breakfast smoothie, I stepped outdoors to see what I could see and do what I could do.

The air was chilly and crisp as I donned my jacket, hat and gloves. My first destination was a large hosta bed in the backyard.

Plan One

After making a quick assessment of the situation at hand, I decided to clear one section of the bed at a time. So, with that plan in mind, I headed back to the garage in search of a small plastic shrub rake and a larger leaf rake. I didn't get a "before" photo, but this is what this particular section looked like after nestling plants in a bed of mulch (and after making several trips with the wheelbarrow). They sure look cozy......but it didn't take long to remember that one pickup load of mulch doesn't go very far. And, there were WAY too many areas needing attention to be working so thoroughly.

Plan Two
"Selective Bedding Method"

Only the leaves that were surrounding the plants would be cleared and replaced with mulch. And that's how I finished the job.

The first photo "rounds the corner"and is part of the section I'd raked entirely. The rest of the photo shows the Selective Bedding Method. The center photo is part of a narrow flower bed on the east side of a little walkway that leads to the shed, and the photo on the right is taken from the center of the bed looking towards the south edge of the house. Still very cozy, a much more effective use of the mulch, and a much more conservative use of my time and energy(!).

This is a photo of one of my favorite little plants in the yard.
Her leaves are very "flowerful."
Little Heronswood Mist Tiarella

This bed has been (and continues to be) "in progress"
for quite some time. The hosta in back is "Sagae."
The one in the forefront is "On Stage."

The last of this post deals with whether I'm really in possession of all my marbles. In other words, am I SANE? As you gaze upon these final three photos, can you Really Tell anything was done out there at all? Especially after I "repositioned" all the leaves (used my rake to throw them in the air and land on everything in the beds again).

Maybe no one else knows, but WE know I did a good thing! You, the plants, and I. And now that I look outdoors, it's less shady and more overcast. Perhaps I'd better again make my way outdoors to put away everything that needs a winter home.