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Any fool knows you can't leave leaves on your LAWN yet many news services have picked up on the advice from a Naturalist about not raking leaves. This is for WOODLANDS---not lawns. And if you want to use leaves in your garden it is best to chop them up and put them in the compost pile.
This is a very timely article.
This is for all the naturalist, especially if you live in the red zone for Lyme disease: Preventing Ticks in the Yard | Lyme Disease | CDC. According to that link from the CDC: "Mow the lawn frequently and keep leaves raked.". They also have other advice for keeping the ticks out of your yard. But you don't want to give the little buggers anyplace to climb or anyplace to hide. Since Lyme disease can be debilitating or lethal; why take a chance?
This is why I have a mulching mower. Even if the lawn doesn't need mowing, the mower turns the leaves into good mulch for the lawn with little effort.
Yep. I was out mulching with the lawn mower yesterday and today. My neighbor, who rakes his leaves and then uses some contraption to turn them in to mulch, was watching me. I have never understood why he doesn't just run them over with a mower a few times, too. Of course, you need to have a mulching mower, or the leaves will mostly just blow around.
Yep. I was out mulching with the lawn mower yesterday and today. My neighbor, who rakes his leaves and then uses some contraption to turn them in to mulch, was watching me. I have never understood why he doesn't just run them over with a mower a few times, too. Of course, you need to have a mulching mower, or the leaves will mostly just blow around.
Actually you don't need a mulching mower - but it helps. Even non-mulching mowers work better than the leaf-mulching/branch-chipping machines that many home owners buy. With any regular rotary mower you reduce the size of the leaves every time you run over them. If you use the mower as a leaf blower and constantly move the leaves to area you will mow next; then your pile will go down and you will end up with an end product close to what your mulching mower produces.
The chipper/shredders do have one useful purpose; they are great at annoying the neighbor you don't get along with!
Actually you don't need a mulching mower - but it helps.
It helps a LOT. I was using my Sears non-mulching mower for a time on Sunday, because it is lighter and easier to maneuver than my Toro Super Recycler. The darn Sears mower blew the leaves around so much, I had to go over and over the same spots too many times. I finally gave up on the non-mulching mower when I noticed sparks coming out from the area of the muffler. I looked closer and saw some pieces of leaf on fire in the space between the muffler and the cage over it. I had tons of dry leaves, and all I needed was a spark starting a fire! I stopped using the Sears and grabbed my Toro. What a difference. One or two passes, and I had finely-chopped leaves; they weren't being blown around, either. And no fire, as the muffler is configured differently on the Toro. LOL I let that Sears sucker get stone COLD before I put it back in the garage, paranoid that a little piece of leaf might still be smoldering in it.
Of course, my neighbor's maple trees have finally started to drop their leaves, many right into my back yard. So I will be out mulching again over Thanksgiving weekend.
Gotta agree about the noise those leaf chippers/shredders make. That has been the background music of my Fall every year for the past 30+ years! BTW, I initially thought the smell of burning leaves was my neighbor smoking pot.
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I had tons of dry leaves, and all I needed was a spark starting a fire! I stopped using the Sears and grabbed my Toro. What a difference. One or two passes, and I had finely-chopped leaves; they weren't being blown around, either. And no fire, as the muffler is configured differently on the Toro. LOL I let that Sears sucker get stone COLD before I put it back in the garage, paranoid that a little piece of leaf might still be smoldering in it. 
