"dkhedmo" wrote in message
ink.net...
dkhedmo wrote:
We just moved into our first house. We have woods at the back of the very
large yard, and many large, mature trees on our property as well as the
surrounding neoghbors'. I love autumn, love big piles of leaves, love to
play in the piles with the kids, etc. I have no aesthetic problem with
leaves being all over the place, prefer it, actually as it is my favorite
season and I am not that enchanted with the typical suburban lawn
scenario (which I intend to remedy on my own property over time), and
chose a property with woods at the back because we really like to be near
the natural beauty.

We are not in a new, fancy neighborhood with one of those associations
with rules, and as far as I can see while perusing the local ordinances
for various information regarding fencing and such, while being expected
to keep up the property to a reasonable degree, there is nothing specific
about cleaning up leaves. I don't know yet what the communal expectations
are for this neighborhood.

My question is, why does everyone generally work themselves into a lather
cleaning up the leaves? Is it damaging to the lawn or garden? I would
think the opposite would be true, in this 4-season climate.

My mother says that in her neighborhood, if the neighbor cleaned up their
leaves and you didn't do yours and they proceeded to blow over onto the
clean yard, there would be a problem. I'd prefer to just not bother,
again not out of laziness or whatever, but because I like them and I
don't really see the point.

-Karen-

Thanks for the info, everyone. I suspect that the sheer quantity of leaves
I expect to fall will be way too many to leave and will indeed smother the
grass. (The entire property is lawn, save for the above ground pool and
playhouse in the back, and a bit of shrubbery around the edges of the
house.) We'll probably follow a plan incorporating both ideas given he
maybe do one big cleanup, then mow over the rest, as we plan to buy a
mulching/side discharge type of mower. (Suggestions under $500?)

We're planning to eventually expand/reconfigure the drive and walkway in
the front and change much of the rest of the lawn there to a garden and
native species type of situation. (Need to do more research on that.)
We'll eventually add a patio in the back and a couple of good sized raised
garden beds, that should do away with a good portion of the lawn! We'll
likely only mow the "back 40" of the yard, nearest the woods, a few times
a year, as it seems many of the neighbors do. Whatever we do back there,
it will be a bit on the rustic side, maybe turn it into more of a
wildflower garden or habitat of some sort. Compost back there, woodpile,
places for boys to dig and explore, etc.

I'm making it sound huge, the whole property is only .38 acres, but still
pretty sizable for an average neighborhood, and compared to anything we've
ever had charge of before. It's narrow, but very deep at the back.


Hi Karen,
I agree with Jim after reading your posts as well, so good luck with your
place. Here is what I do. I have plenty of grass that is bordered by
woods. I use my mower to blow all the leaves back off of the grass and into
the woods. It chops it up a bit along the way and some of the finely
chopped stuff remains in the grass to feed it a little bit. If you let it
go too long it becomes somewhat tedious as the mower is trying to blow too
much stuff and bogs up, so keep up with it just with your regular mowings.
Hope this helps,
Tomes