"simy1" wrote in message
om...
Mark Herbert wrote in message
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In article ,

I do the same. The earthworms love the stuff, and will aerate the soil
beneath wherever you deposit it.

I use an electric mower to mulch quite a load of leaves, but if they are
dry and I take my time, I can completely powder them in a reasonable
time. I always sharpen the blade halfway through the job.

yes. for the lawn, it is certainly a good idea to pulverize them,
though I find that even coarsely chopped they disappear by May. for
the garden, it is best not to chop them, so that they can suppress
weeds well into august the next year. and in fact it is best not to
put them on the garden during winter, but rather as far away as
possible, because they will attract rodents. it is still a good deal
work wise: to move half a ton of leaves twice (once now, once in May)
takes two or three hours. to weed the beds twice during the season can
take days of work.

I rake my leaves, not much, and the neighbors, big pile, on my beds after
they freeze up, which is very soon. Waiting like this gives less habitat to
the mice and more constant conditions to the bulbs. By June the leaves have
vanished.

For my lawn I rake in black compost right after the thaw. My lawn is nice
and green all year this way. (I stopped using chemical lawn amendments
three years ago.) In fact there is a sharp green line between me and the
neighbor!