dkhedmo wrote:
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-

I alternate between plain mowing and bagging with my garden tractor.
When I bag my 1 acre lot ( probably 3/4 acre of lawn), I may have to
empty the aftermarket 3 bushel bagger about 4 times during the mowing.
Like you, I have a large wooded area at the back of my property. I empty
the clippings and leaves into a big pile at the woods edge and let them
compost. The pile gets up to 4 feet tall and then drops to about 2 feet
tall as it decays and I use it. The bottom of the pile is about 20 years
old. I don't have a vegetable garden, but do some digging and planting
at times, even if only grass seed. I have clay soil and the addition of
the compost into the soil makes it more nutritious for the plantings.
I live in the NE US and leaving whole leaves on the lawn over the winter
just makes a slimy, black leaf blanket over the ground in the spring.
Not too much fun playing in them.


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.

-K-

-Karen-


--
Bill
in Hamptonburgh, NY
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