Do you rake your leaves?

[k4kyv]

I think leaf-raking is a waste of time. We have three mature maples in our front lawn, and many other tree on the property, but I never rake leaves. The most I ever do is run over the yard with the riding lawnmower a few times as the leaves fall. As it cuts the grass it chops the leaves up into tiny pieces that cover the ground like a fine mulch. The leaf residue has never failed to dissipate by spring when the new grass comes out.

One way I see people around here dealing with them is to use a leaf blower to blow them onto the property next door.

[W1GUH]

Before moving into the city, leaf raking was one of the dreaded chores . #I didn't mind the raking, that was kinda fun and invigorating in the crisp autumn air, but bagging leaves always struck me as absolutely the stupidest way of getting rid of them....but the city required bagging. # http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mad.gif

I always thought the best way was those vacuum trucks that picked up leaves from the gutter.

Even better was ('way back when) having a big leaf bonfire, with roasted wieners & toasted marshmallows. #I dearly miss the aroma of burning leaves in the fall.

[kc2orw]

Used to be nice when you had a bunch of trees near the house blow them over there. Eventually trees go away neighbor wants them gone they are tall you get rid of them. You now pick them up or blow some into the remaining tree areas. Town passes law you now have to get them all up or possibly have a neighbor rat you out and get forced to pay a fine.
Moral of the story leave as many of the trees up as you can, have less lawn, and take the big trees down before they get to hard to take down without need of a cherry picker...

[N3ATS]

Riding mower with mulching deck! http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/cool.gif

[w4rot]

Quote[/b] (N3ATS @ Sep. 22 2007,23:02)]Riding mower with mulching deck! #http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/cool.gif
Ditto.

[n7zsd]

At my house it's pine needles. The leaf blower doesn't work to well on pine needles, gotta rake 'em. That's what kids are for!http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

[k4kyv]

Quote[/b] (n7zsd @ Sep. 23 2007,06:44)]At my house it's pine needles. The leaf blower doesn't work to well on pine needles, gotta rake 'em. That's what kids are for!http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif
Why not just leave them on the ground?

Quote[/b] (kc2orw @ Sep. 23 2007,02:54)]Used to be nice when you had a bunch of trees near the house blow them over there. Eventually trees go away neighbor wants them gone they are tall you get rid of them. You now pick them up or blow some into the remaining tree areas. Town passes law you now have to get them all up or possibly have a neighbor rat you out and get forced to pay a fine.
Moral of the story leave as many of the trees up as you can, have less lawn, and take the big trees down before they get to hard to take down without need of a cherry picker...
So now they even have laws that you can't let the leaves stay on the ground? I thought it was bad enough that some places micromanaged how tall you could let the grass grow or forced you to water the lawn to keep the grass green.

And you can't let your trees get too big? A shade tree is not worth its maintenance if you don't let it mature.

I'm sure glad I don't live in one of those fascist-pig-headed places where you have to take out a permit for a lawn chair and you will be arrested for taking a leak outside your back door or drinking a beer on your own front porch.

What ever happened to all this "freedom" we are supposed to have in America?

If I wanted my every move and every action micromanaged by someone in "authority", I wouldn't even try to live in a house. I'd just live in a condom-inium or rent a cheap hotel room that offers monthly rates.

Why do people tolerate this B.S.?

[WA5KRP]

Quote[/b] (w4rot @ Sep. 22 2007,22:44)]Quote[/b] (N3ATS @ Sep. 22 2007,23:02)]Riding mower with mulching deck! #http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/cool.gif
Ditto.
Getting the hang of using a leaf blower has its advantages.


http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c388/farterblaster/myspace/windy.jpg




WA5KRP
Texas

[w4rot]

Quote[/b] (WA5KRP @ Sep. 23 2007,03:34)]Quote[/b] (w4rot @ Sep. 22 2007,22:44)]Quote[/b] (N3ATS @ Sep. 22 2007,23:02)]Riding mower with mulching deck! #http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/cool.gif
Ditto.
Getting the hang of using a leaf blower has its advantages.


http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c388/farterblaster/myspace/windy.jpg




WA5KRP
Texas
My God man...that'll blow the squirrels right out of the nest.
I'll check with ag extension.
http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif
rot

[w2amr]

Leaf collecting is the wife's department. I wouldn't know anything about it, I don't get involved.

[n2ize]

Quote[/b] (kc2orw @ Sep. 22 2007,19:54)]Used to be nice when you had a bunch of trees near the house blow them over there. Eventually trees go away neighbor wants them gone they are tall you get rid of them. You now pick them up or blow some into the remaining tree areas. Town passes law you now have to get them all up or possibly have a neighbor rat you out and get forced to pay a fine.
Moral of the story leave as many of the trees up as you can, have less lawn, and take the big trees down before they get to hard to take down without need of a cherry picker...
Why would you take the big trees down ? Those are antenna support structures. They are invaluable. Only way you can get a sipole or inverted vee up to a respectable and useful height without a tower.

[n2ize]

Quote[/b] (W1GUH @ Sep. 22 2007,19:49)]Before moving into the city, leaf raking was one of the dreaded chores . #I didn't mind the raking, that was kinda fun and invigorating in the crisp autumn air, but bagging leaves always struck me as absolutely the stupidest way of getting rid of them....but the city required bagging. # http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mad.gif

I always thought the best way was those vacuum trucks that picked up leaves from the gutter.

Even better was ('way back when) having a big leaf bonfire, with roasted wieners & toasted marshmallows. #I dearly miss the aroma of burning leaves in the fall.
I remember they used to allow leaf bonfires in most suburban areas. The only problem was that on a weekend everybody would be burning leaves, they would smoulder for hours and after a while you'd choke on it. It's not so bad in a relatively spread suburban area but in a high density suburb when everyones burning on a fall weekend the smoke became too much to take.

It was good cover for marijuana smoking though. Just more burning leaves...

[n9yb]

I have oak trees in my yard. They must be raked.

[WD4CHP]

Here in Florida, we do not rake. We just reach down and pick them up.

[vk6zgo]

Here at my place we don't have trees that drop leaves in the autumn(fall).What we have is a large Eucalypt ( not sure of its real name,but it's commonly called a "River Gum").
It drops leaves 24/7, 365 days a year but thats not all,it also sloughs off huge pieces of bark,& the occasional small limb.

It has effectively killed the swimming pool.

Cut it down! No way ! it holds up one end of my 20 dipole!

73 VK6ZGO

[n2ize]

Quote[/b] (vk6zgo @ Sep. 23 2007,05:22)]Here at my place we don't have trees that drop leaves in the autumn(fall).What we have is a large Eucalypt ( not sure of its real name,but it's commonly called a "River Gum").
It drops leaves 24/7, 365 days a year but thats not all,it also sloughs off huge pieces of bark,& the occasional small limb.

It has effectively killed the swimming pool.

Cut it down! No way ! it holds up one end of my 20 dipole!

73 VK6ZGO
Sounds a bit like a Sycamore tree. It also tends to drop leaves all year round, except winter when it's bare, and also sheds huge thin strips of bark every so often. I

[N9XR]

Quote[/b] (w4rot @ Sep. 22 2007,20:17)]Quote[/b] (WA5KRP @ Sep. 23 2007,03:34)]Quote[/b] (w4rot @ Sep. 22 2007,22:44)]Quote[/b] (N3ATS @ Sep. 22 2007,23:02)]Riding mower with mulching deck! http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/cool.gif
Ditto.
Getting the hang of using a leaf blower has its advantages.






WA5KRP
Texas
My God man...that'll blow the squirrels right out of the nest.
I'll check with ag extension.
http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif
rot
Some kind of extension anyway.

Yeah, I guess every state has an an ag extension. Back in Kansas we always had the ag extension reports with some guy who sounded like he had a squarewave voice. Deep and rich in harmonics.

But we have laws here where you must rake up your leaves and pay to have them removed. Lawns should always look neat and manicured. We do not have CCR's, so I can put up antennas as long as no one complains too much.

[WA3WDR]

I would rake the leaves in a pile, and run the ordinary lawn mower over them a few times until they were pretty much mulched. #I ran the mower such that I blew the choppings up the hill, and I proceeded up the hill as I worked, so I was chopping them a few times while pushing them uphill. #I fugure that the nutrients would tend to wash down the hill when it rained.

The lawn was beautiful. #Other lawns would be yellowed out from too much chemical treatment, I think, while this one was nice and green. #It was watered, though, and others were not. #(Northern Long Island.)

Many years ago, I used to do the same thing at my parents' house, except I didn't bother to rake, and I didn't pay attention to blowing the cuttings up the hill. #But I got about the same result: a perfectly nice lawn, though a bit thin on the narrow rising stretch to the back yard, which was also heavily shaded by the house and my trees. #Nothing was ever put on the lawn except spot weedkillers, until an ill-fated fertilization effort in the back yard after years of neglect and overgrowth. #(Also northern Long Island.)

I fertilized areas in both yards once, and of course I overdid it, and it killed most of the grass where I did it. #It took a few months and some serious reseeding to get it back to normal. #Be careful with that fertilizer stuff.

[kq9j]

Quote[/b] (k4kyv @ Sep. 22 2007,19:38)]I think leaf-raking is a waste of time. We have three mature maples in our front lawn, and many other tree on the property, but I never rake leaves. The most I ever do is run over the yard with the riding lawnmower a few times as the leaves fall. As it cuts the grass it chops the leaves up into tiny pieces that cover the ground like a fine mulch. The leaf residue has never failed to dissipate by spring when the new grass comes out.

One way I see people around here dealing with them is to use a leaf blower to blow them onto the property next door.
Grinding them up best you can and leaving them there over the winter is what I do. Then I rake in the spring when it gets warmer and I am itching to spend some time outside anyway. Some people here rake them and the city comes along and picks up the bags...now you have a plastic bag to dispose of, too. Mulching is more environmentally friendly.

Just mowed mine today. Been kinda busy and it was kinda tall in places. We have an informal "homeowners association" in the neighborhood. I do what I want and the neighbors do what they want. We never have meetings. I have a tower and wires all over the place.
We just don't bug each other. No nit-picking. I couldn't live with the stupid restrictions some people have to live with. Why do people go along with it? Because they have been systematically conditioned to give up their freedom.

I love the post from the guy on here who has a neighbor who gets mad when he mows his lawn in the wrong pattern. She would absolutely crap her pants if she had to live next to me.

[VO1GXG]

I let the leaves pile up, that way I will have a pillow to land on when im up in the tree fixing broken aerial wires!

[W4MAJ]

Everything gets raked into a "gully" where it composts all winter. One man's opinion, I can't stand to see my yard covered with leaves. It makes the snow bumpy and thanks to Global Warming, we don't get the snow we used to. Ice storms, well that's another story.

[ac7k]

Here in Western Washington, we mostly have evergreens, but I seem to always have maple trees where I live... when I was a kid, my dad and all 4 of us kids would rake all weekend long and burn the leaves... and just when you got it all raked up, it would rain and more leaves would fall and it looked like you didn't do anything.... very frustrating!!! As far as a blower, it doesn't move them if the leaves are wet and compacted, as they always get here in the Seattle rain.

Eric

[n3ixq]

I have to many trees on the property to mulch them all. I blow them onto a 30 x 30 blue tarp and then drag them to the front of the house up by the curbing. Our township supplies a huge vaccuum truck to come pick them all up. They drag them off to a communty mulch pile.

I usually have to make about 3 runs at it to get it all.

[K3VR]

I have 3 big maples. I mow once a week and in the fall I run over them with the tractor which mulches them nicely. By mid-November the west wind has deposited them elsewhere. I know a guy who was actually threatened with a law suit because he didn't rake his leaves! Can you imagine?

[kd5kfl]

I drive the Bronco back and forth over the weeds. In NM weeds can grow 4 feet tall in 2 weeks. Stalk as big as your thumb. Weedeaters don't work, go through a spool in an hour. Spend more time untangling and rewinding then weedeating.

Then you get out the skil saw and cut down the Cottonwood trees and Siberian Elm. Again. You can't kill them. They grow where water accumulates. Under the eaves.

While you are doing this you are making bugs homeless. They swarm around you while you destroy their houses, then follow you into yours.

[AC0H]

Quote[/b] (n7zsd @ Sep. 23 2007,01:44)]At my house it's pine needles. The leaf blower doesn't work to well on pine needles, gotta rake 'em. That's what kids are for!http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif
Ditto the pine needles. The cones are terrible too. You swear you get them all up but sure enough next spring on the first mow it's thunk, thunk, thunk, as cones hit the blades.

We've got a 70'er in the front yard that drops so many needles if you didn't rake them up they'd smother the grass beneath. Pine needles don't decay as fast as you average maple leaf.

Last year was especially tough. I went an bought a tow behind yard rake for my tractor, piled up all the leaves and needles, which resulted in a pile 5 foot wide, by 3 foot high, by 20 ft long. I went and rented a gasoline powered mulcher and dispatched the pile in about an hour of mulching and bagging.

Yes Virginia, the peoples republic of Des Moines requires all lawn refuse be bagged in those paper bags, and it can't be just any paper bag, it has to be their paper bag. I ran out of "approved bags" and used a couple I had from the man store (home depot). The city crew came around and picked up every bag except the Home Depot bags. Their identical except the HD bag says HD on the outside!

[w2rdt]

Quote[/b] (WD4CHP @ Sep. 23 2007,04:21)]Here in Florida, we do not rake. We just reach down and pick them up.
LOL What is to pick up??
Palm trees have large leaves of sorts
I think.
Russ==KC2RKO

[kc2orw]

Quote[/b] (AC0H @ Sep. 23 2007,11:27)]Yes Virginia, the peoples republic of Des Moines requires all lawn refuse be bagged in those paper bags, and it can't be just any paper bag, it has to be their paper bag. I ran out of "approved bags" and used a couple I had from the man store (home depot). The city crew came around and picked up every bag except the Home Depot bags. Their identical except the HD bag says HD on the outside!
Ain't that a beach when they do that... they actually allow us an alternate we can drive em over to the collection yard and dump them ourselves. They are supposed to check out what you are dumping but they usually don't bother http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[K0RGR]

It depends on the wind.

We have two very tall trees in the fairly small backyard.

If it's windy enough, all the leaves fall in my neighbor's yard.

If it's too windy, we get the leaves from another neighbor a couple doors away. Those have to either be mucked with the mulching mower, or raked, prior to the first big snowfall. Otherwise, they form a waterproof cover over the lawn leading to water problems in the spring.

[KI6JUW]

I don't rake leaves but my gardener does an excellent job. http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/cool.gif

[kc2orw]

Quote[/b] (K0RGR @ Sep. 23 2007,11:56)]It depends on the wind.

We have two very tall trees in the fairly small backyard.

If it's windy enough, all the leaves fall in my neighbor's yard.

If it's too windy, we get the leaves from another neighbor a couple doors away. Those have to either be mucked with the mulching mower, or raked, prior to the first big snowfall. Otherwise, they form a waterproof cover over the lawn leading to water problems in the spring.
I got lucky one year and we had a steady blow of about 35-40 mph for 24 hours, it didn't even end up in the neighbors yard. I have no idea where it went but it was gone http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[KL7FZ]

Don't rake leaves. Don't mow grass. Don't cut my hair. Don't shave. All useless pursuits.
Simple as that.
KL7FZ

[k4kyv]

Quote[/b] (KL7FZ @ Sep. 23 2007,17:34)]Don't rake leaves. Don't mow grass. Don't cut my hair. Don't shave. All useless pursuits.
Simple as that.
KL7FZ
Of all the above, IMO raking leaves is a useless pursuit. Nature intended for the leaves to serve as ground cover over the winter.

When the kids lived here at home, they used to like to rake leaves and then play in them. I just run over them with the lawn mower and leave the chopped up residue on the ground over the winter. The grass is much greener the following summer than it ever was when the kids raked the leaves.

Actually, if I don't cut them up with the mower, the wind blows most of them in the adjacent field by spring anyway. But the mowed leaves are small and dense enough that the wind doesn't carry them, and they do a good job of protecting the grass.

I have never fertilised or watered my lawn. I keep it mowed in summer, but pretty much let nature take care of the rest. This summer, all the lawns in the area turned brown it was so dry. But that's nature's way of surviving drougt. We finally got about an inch of rain a week or so ago, and everything immediately greened up. No permanent damage; the grass will all grow back.

My lawn doesn't looked manicured, but it stays neatly trimmed and uncluttered, and that's all I care about.

[NC5P]

The goat eats them.

[KA9VQF]

It used to be that you could burn piles of leaves on the edge of the road here.

One day the city noticed that they had to repair the edges of the road a lot so they banned all burning of leaves in town.

Later it was decided that if you wanted to burn the leaves in your own yard it was alright.

Then they decided you could bag them and the city would pick them up and haul them to a spot where they would burn them for you. Then, they tagged on a price of a dollar a bag and quit burning them they just accumulated for a few years and were finally hauled somewhere else where they were probably burned.

There is still a spot near one of the city water towers that a lot of people bring bags of leaves every year. I’m not real sure it is an ‘official’ spot to bring them anymore so I never do I’ve just seen people bring trailer loads and pickupfulls up there tho.

I used to rake them and put the bags out to be picked up until they started charging for it, then I started burning them in the back yard. All you had to do is wait for a fairly windless day and call the city police to let them know you are having a controlled burn, have the fire out by 10:00 pm and you are good to go.

I always sat out by my fire with the garden hose a pitchfork and rake and watch it. I keep adding leaves and never let it get to big.

There have been a few times that neighbors would bring tarps full of fuel for my fire. Generally accompanied by adult malted beverages. I’ve actually burned leaves for 36 hours straight sitting there all the time.

When all the fuel is gone I stir the ashes and water everything down really good then was off to bed. I didn’t just burn this stuff it was incinerated. Very little ash. What ash I did have went on the compost heap.

I had a very burned and blackened spot in my yard for years. One spring day I took the spade out there and turned, it then mixed in a bunch of stuff from my compost heap, planted grass and haven’t burned leaves there since.

I also did away with the compost heap. It had been made out of railroad ties, it was roughly 6’X4’ and around 3’ high. The bottom ties had composted so severely that it fell over. I decided to rebuild it but all but the top ties crumbled.

I haven’t had a garden for years and years so there was really no reason to keep the compost heap going.

Now I mulch the leaves in my yard till snow covers them then in the spring I may pull the ones gathered near the foundation and under my shrubbery out and burn them. Last year I just mowed them after pulling them out.

So far the city has not threatened anyone with fines it they don’t rake their yard. Mowing grass is a different story tho.

[WA5KRP]

I know it sounds silly, but it's difficult for me to fathom having your yard covered by snow during the winter. #In south Texas, the only time leaves are covered by snow is when some poor slob drops his snow cone.

It all sounds too weird.



WA5KRP
Texas

[WA4TM]

Just chop them with the mower and forget them!!!

[WA6MHZ]

Leaf raking is indeed a waste of time. I laughed at my wife trying to rake the Ecaulyptus leaves off the driveway. Sure enough,there were more leaves than before a few hours later. But I hate Leaf blowers. They make more noise than anything else. And they are the primary job of illegal aliens in town. After all, how much training does it take to run a leaf blower? I want to hold my ears and scream when I hear one. Incredibly annoying!!! So let the leaves fall. The wind blows away most. Then the people who owned the forest of Ecaulyptus cut them all down. No more leaves, no problem. Ecaulyptus are wonderful for feeding Koala Bears! Now if we could just import a bunch of those from VK it would be great! But there are plenty at the San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal park

[n2ize]

Quote[/b] (wa6mhz @ Sep. 23 2007,15:39)]Leaf raking is indeed a waste of time. I laughed at my wife trying to rake the Ecaulyptus leaves off the driveway. Sure enough,there were more leaves than before a few hours later. But I hate Leaf blowers. They make more noise than anything else. And they are the primary job of illegal aliens in town. After all, how much training does it take to run a leaf blower? I want to hold my ears and scream when I hear one. Incredibly annoying!!! So let the leaves fall. The wind blows away most. Then the people who owned the forest of Ecaulyptus cut them all down. No more leaves, no problem. Ecaulyptus are wonderful for feeding Koala Bears! Now if we could just import a bunch of those from VK it would be great! But there are plenty at the San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal park
If you live in a high density suburb the leaf blower is your best friend. It simply becomes impractical to just let them fall and remain as they cover a great deal of pavement which becomes slippery and dangerous when leaf covered. While noisy they cut the time it takes to rake leaves substantially. Leaf blowers make the most boring job in the universe tolerable. Plus they burn gas and motor and engine freaks like myself love anything that is made of metal, burns gas, and gets hot.

[kc2orw]

Quote[/b] (n2ize @ Sep. 23 2007,07:11)]Why would you take the big trees down ? Those are antenna support structures. They are invaluable. Only way you can get a sipole or inverted vee up to a respectable and useful height without a tower.
Because they were at least 60 feet tall and leaning towards the neighbors property. There is a funny rule about insurance if you receive a legal notice about your trees and one falls and damages anything on that neighbors property your home owners insurance won't cover the damages.

Things like this can happen when your house is old and a new neighbor changes the lay of the land. Suddenly stuff that wasn't problem is now a looming issue.

[N0WVA]

Leave them be.....Thats fertilizer for next year.....Kinda crazy how people beat thier grass down and work it to death, then bag all the clippings and leaves....Then you see them dumping the fertilizer to it....Silly process.

The lawn gustapo is bad in many places. There is a town up the road from me that will give you a fine if caught washing your car on your lawn. Crazy, huh?

[KA9VQF]

A few years back now my neighbor bought the neatest thing I’ve ever seen. It is a lawn vacuum that not only sucks up all the regular grass clippings, come fall it will actually suck up and mulch branches, leaves, chickens, rocks, lawn ornaments, small children and pets.

He can tow the thing behind his riding tractor or open a little door and feed in bigger branches.

All these debris get tossed into whatever plastic bag you put in the hopper. He has been using those heavy duty 55 gallon contractor bags the last few years. The only real problem he has with it is the bags can be so heavy once filled he can’t pick them up to put in his pickup.

He has borrowed my trailer because it is much closer to the ground than his full sized Z71 Chevy truck.

[WB2WIK]

One of the indisputably great things about living in L.A. is that we don't have to rake leaves.

Very few ever fall off the trees.

Those that do are raked up by gardeners, and I don't need to know their names unless I want to.

In 20 years here I've never raked, blown or otherwise relocated any leaves.

WB2WIK/6

[k0ews]

Quote[/b] ]In 20 years here I've never raked, blown or otherwise relocated any leaves.
Probably never shoveled snow either, Steve. You do live a charmed life.
Yes, I have several trees and yes, I have to rake, but I also have 3 kids who think that's a fun activity. I let them keep thinking that. Why ruin their fun? http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

[NL7W]

I mulch them with my mower set quite high -- no need to have short grass (less protection) right before the snow flies. They'll be good food come future growing seasons.

[WA6MHZ]

The wonderful thing about Southern California is that if we WANT to play in the snow, the high mountains are only a few miles away. Then after we have had our fill of the white stuff, its off to the beach for sun, sand and spray! I lived in Chicago for years and don't miss the snow shoveling one bit. Rich folks had snow blowers, impoverished people just made their teenagers (me) do it. Everyone that comes to California never wants to leave. Yes, we do have some smog, bad traffic and crime, but its no worse than other major cities that have LOTS of snow! But it is getting crowded and pricey, so alot of long time Californians are moving up to Washington and Oregon to get away from the madhouse. However, there they get to shovel more snow! (and rake lots and lots of leaves!!!)

[N2RJ]

I rake the leaves.

They kill the grass, so they need to be raked.

[NN3W]

We have to rake them - and bag 'em.

I've got one huge sugar maple in the front, which sheds starting in early October. The two cherries are starting to shed now since it has been dry thi summer. We've also got 9 red and/or white oaks and two tulip poplars. They'll hang on until at least mid October.

[kl7aj]

I used to rake leaves, but I kept falling out of the tree!

[ab8ma]

Nice thing about Oak Leaves, is that they make a lot of noise when stepped on.
I have 5 Oak trees in the front yard. Each of these trees are 100 feet tall. This yard is 40X100 feet.

Back yard has my favorite Oak, huge and high.

Leaves are collected via John Deer, and deposited along the curb for vacuum.

[k4kyv]

Quote[/b] (N2RJ @ Sep. 24 2007,13:27)]I rake the leaves.

They kill the grass, so they need to be raked.
If you chop them up by running the lawn mower over them, they won't.

One year my wife got the idea of mulching the garlic patch with dead leaves. She thought it would protect the garlic over the winter. The following spring very little garlic emerged because the leaf cover smothered it out.

But the eastern half of north America is almost entirely natural forest land. Leave any vacant field unattended for a decade or so and it will revert back to forest. In a forest, the bed of dead leaves is the natural ground cover over the winter. Leaves may kill lawn grass, but natural forest flora depends on them.