Eric in North Texas wrote:
Mowing with a mulching mower is a good partial solution for anyone that
has lots of trees nearby. You can do it in the beginning, and you can
do it at the end of the leaf fall period. But if you have a property
surrounded by trees, there is no alternative to removing them. If you
mulch that many, you will bury and kill the turf.

I beg to differ, I'm not only surrounded by trees, it is our main
theme, we have around 100 trees and that is probably a conservative
estimate. Around 50 % of those are pines, so no leaf problem there, but
there are 30+ fruit / nut trees 2 large oaks, some many decades old
most around 15 yrs old, so we generate a few leaves. I mow wide open
throttle with an open discharge chute & use high vac bagging blades, it
comes out as a coarse powder.


If 50% of your trees are pines, then you must recoginze that you have a
much different situation, with far less leaves than someone who has a
house surrounded on 3 sides by woods with large trees with heavy
leaves. Also, consider what it would be like if those fruit trees
were instead oaks, that grow much larger and produce far more leaves.
It doesn't matter how fine of a powder you turn leaves into. If you
try to do that with enough of them and don't remove the ground leaves,
it will cover and kill the grass.

I agree mulching can work up to some point. I do it myself. But if
you have a house surrounded on 3 sides by nearby dense woods with lawn
in between, it doesn't work. You can do it some in the beginning, and
you can do it again near the end of the process. But much of the
leaves have to be removed, one way or another.

"newsreader" wrote in message
...
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'.

My property is surrounded by trees on the perimeter. I'm sort of out in
the country, on a 3 acre lot, with a fairly wide buffer of scrub woods
between me & the neighbors, so I don't really need to or care to be
concerned about the leaves blowing issue.

I do however have a fair amount of lawn (not very pristine) that I like to
keep reasonably nice looking. I handle the leaves much the same as others
who replied. I run the mower over them, blowing them mostly into the
woods. I try to go out with the mower pretty frequently in fall, so that
I'm blowing / chopping leaves while they are still dry & have not gotten
very deep. They basically disappear into the lawn once chopped up by the
mower. If it rains while the leaves are thick on the ground, they will
indeed mat down & possibly choke out the grass.

Dead leaves on the ground are good for keeping the ground clear of the
majority of the surface foliage. Nature thing. That said, you don't want
it on your lawn. Mow em, rake em, or if old hat in rural area without a
burn ban in effect, rake em and burn em. Lotsa leaves, no grass (lawn), if
no one cares, why should you? Its not a fire hazard even with a semblance
of decent rainfall.

My lawn is immediately around the house. Live in rural area. I can pretty
much do what I want regarding to lawn and raking leaves or not. No trees
near house except for a patch of some live oaks on west side. Once a year,
these drop their leaves. I don't care. Neither does the grass due to the
prevailing wind conditions in early spring.

Just one note. Keep the trees back away from the house due to potential
fire hazard from jumping treetops if near the "woods". "Purty" (pretty)
trees can destroy your house, and possibly take you and your family as well.
A good rule for a fire block area is 50 feet plus the height of the highest
tree in horizontal distance except in the worst wind conditions. Be safe,
and godspeed.
--
Jonny

"dkhedmo" wrote in message
k.net...
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.


This is how you do it. After most of the leaves have fallen, grab the kids
and rake all the leaves in to huge piles. Then you dive in them, tunnel
thorugh them and get lots of pictures. Then you get those great big orange
leaf bags that look like a pumpkin and have the kids stuf them in there for
decoration. As everyone said, your lawn will suffer and bugs will make
their home there.

As far as not being enchanted with the burbs, my front yard can hold it's
own to anyones, that is where I grow flowers and plants that I like, but the
back is trees, with paths, a brooke and NO grass!

Ditto

"Eric in North Texas" wrote in message
oups.com...



Why not just mow them, it breaks them down to mulch, it isn't really
much work, it destroys their ability to take flight and annoy the
neighbors. I've been doing that for 40 years, and my lawn is better for
it.