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Old 12-05-2003, 12:20 PM
Jason Quick
 
Posts: n/a
Default burning leaves in garden

[posted & mailed]

"Dave Allyn (Dave Allyn)" wrote :

I have been mulching and turning under, but I also have ALOT of ash..
my ash pile (and you know how leaves burn down) is about 10 feet by 40
feet, and about 6 inches deep. the amount of leaves before hand is
about 10 X 40 X 3 feet deep, and I make 4 or 5 of them a year....


That is one hell of a leaf pile, my friend. My recommendation is something
that's worked quite well for me:

Get thee to a hardware store or home center and buy a leaf blower/vacuum.
Now, you may have only marginal use for a leaf blower, but that's not what
we're after here. We're after the vacuum function. Gas or electric -
whichever trips yer trigger.

The beauty of this appliance is that you can turn a Big-Ass Pile O' Leaves
(tm) into Teeny Leaf Bits (also TM) in short order. Those bits can then be
used as mulch, compost heap fuel, soil amendment - whatever.

A tip - give the leaves a brief spray with the hose before you start
snorting them up, else the leaf dust (and the dust *on* the leaves) will
cause you to hack up nasty stuff for days afterward.

Alternately, you could buy one of them leaf-shredding things and have at it.
But those (rather over $100) are a lot more expensive than my cheapo leaf
blower option ($50-75). For big fun, buy a chipper / shredder. That will
take care of yer deadwood *and* leaves.

Jason