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Hello!

So, I have recently became a homeowner, and there is a small/medium sized lawn belonging to my property. There are some trees on it, and my neighbors also have some huge ones hanging over my lawn.
It isn't hard to figure out where this is going. I will be bombarded with leaves in a few months :laughing:

My question is, how do you people usually deal with this? My property is slightly too big for me to clean it up with a rake all the time, so I did some research online. Came across this article:
https://backyardgadget.com/how-to-get-rid-of-leaves-without-raking/

There are some interesting points there. One of them suggests that I just mulch them up (the leaves) with my lawn mower, and use them as a kind of compost for my lawn.
Have any of you done this before? It sounds good in theory, but I'm afraid I'll have too many mulched leaves and it will just cover my lawn to the point where it's unhealthy for the grass.

yorozuya said:

Hello!

So, I have recently became a homeowner, and there is a small/medium sized lawn belonging to my property. There are some trees on it, and my neighbors also have some huge ones hanging over my lawn.
It isn't hard to figure out where this is going. I will be bombarded with leaves in a few months :laughing:

My question is, how do you people usually deal with this? My property is slightly too big for me to clean it up with a rake all the time, so I did some research online. Came across this article:
https://backyardgadget.com/how-to-get-rid-of-leaves-without-raking/

There are some interesting points there. One of them suggests that I just mulch them up (the leaves) with my lawn mower, and use them as a kind of compost for my lawn.
Have any of you done this before? It sounds good in theory, but I'm afraid I'll have too many mulched leaves and it will just cover my lawn to the point where it's unhealthy for the grass.

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If you keep after them you can mulch them.

You can't let them get 4 inches deep and then do it. If you have nice grass. IMO.
In my small pecan orchard I mow over them every week...that's seems to take care of them.
When they pile up deep in the back yard I have to sweep/rake them up and put them in the garden or pasture.

I often wonder where those mountains of leaves go.
I have leaves in the fall and in the spring I have them when the live oaks molt...A LOT of leaves!
You go out now and there is not a leaf to be found.

You have to rake at least one LARGE pile for the kids to jump into!

Very simple solution to end your leaves problem, it's called a chainsaw ! Ahhh the WIIIIIde open spaces !! .. :laughing:..:laughing:

I have been a homeowner since 2001. I raked and bagged the first two years as I was brought up doing it that way. Since 2003 I have been mulching them. There are times that I run the mower every day to keep up on them. But it beats the raking. I will never go back to raking

Don

IF you do not have the time to mow daily , have a look at a yard vac.
Lots of them around, not the reversed leaf blowers but real walk behind vacuums or even ride on ones used in warehouses.
make a compost bin is an unused corner of the yard, keep them moist and you will have excellent weed free compost.

Not sure a Greenworks mower is going to up to the task of heavy duty leaf mulching. Some municipalities pick up bulk leaves left at the curb. There's always the option of having them sucked up and hauled away by a private"you rakem 'em, we take 'em" service. That's in addition to methods already mentioned.

Do a site search with the single word "leaves"
There have been a lot of really smart ideas on here over the years, particularly in the "made it yourself " sub group.

Hmm, thank you for the tips! :smile:
Looks like I'll have to do some more research on the matter.

Rake them into windrows and mulch them with a mower. Can't let them get too thick or matted. You will need to keep after them. With a mulch plate on my rider, I can make a big windrow almost disappear. You would be surprised how little volume dead leaves take up when finely mulched. Set your mower three to four inches high so the leaves will go under instead of being pushed.

John Fitzgerald said:

Rake them into windrows and mulch them with a mower. Can't let them get too thick or matted. You will need to keep after them. With a mulch plate on my rider, I can make a big windrow almost disappear. You would be surprised how little volume dead leaves take up when finely mulched. Set your mower three to four inches high so the leaves will go under instead of being pushed.

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Why bother raking into windrows?

Darryl G said:

Why bother raking into windrows?

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It's easier to mulch that way, at least for me. The mower tends to push big piles, plus the wind here will push the leaves into heaps against the fences, flower beds, and buildings, making it hard to get to them with the mower.

John Fitzgerald said:

It's easier to mulch that way, at least for me. The mower tends to push big piles, plus the wind here will push the leaves into heaps against the fences, flower beds, and buildings, making it hard to get to them with the mower.

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Ok thanks. Yeah I use a blower to get the leaves out into the lawn area where I can run them over. I was picturing raking them into neat rows just to run them over and disperse them which seemed like a waste of time to me. Agreed that piles aren't the way to go although I do that on the back lawn of one account I have because there are so many rock outcrops and stumps - machine killers I call them.

Thank you for the share

You should consider a Honda HRX series lawnmower. I struggled with leaves for decades. I kept my MTD Craftsman mower going way too long and even added a lawn vacuum to the struggle. The Honda pulverizes leaves so you can either bag or just mulch them into your lawn. I'm going to be getting rid of my leaf vacuum now that I have been using the Honda for several years. The Honda is faster and it's bag is easier to empty. If you mulch them into your lawn you have to keep up with it on a regular basis. I usually run over heavy leaf concentrations first and then bag them. I then keep them on a tarp until my city picks up the leaves curbside. If you plan to stay at this property for a while consider having an arborist over to see if your trees could use some pruning. As others have said consider having some trees removed. I had 3 medium-large trees that were close to my house removed this spring, and I cut down 3 small-medium trees myself so I'm looking forward to having fewer leaves this fall.

I also have lots of leaves on the ground every Fall. I mow them over a few times, which does two things :

- Cuts leaves in smaller pieces so they will compost faster and therefore give me free fertilizer in that area
- If you mow the leaves when they are dry and brittle, they act as some kind of mild sandblast on your mowing deck. Not strong enough to remove paint, but it cleans really good.

I just blow them into my neighbor's yard. Easy peasy...

I pull a vac trailer behind mower clean up 2 6+ acres every year

SidecarFlip said:

I just blow them into my neighbor's yard. Easy peasy...

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I like this option best.. :thumbsup: :laughing:

SidecarFlip said:

I just blow them into my neighbor's yard. Easy peasy...

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I think my neighbor does this. I don't have a tree but sure get a lot of leaves. Mulch some, bag some, ignore some.

tom3 said:

I think my neighbor does this. I don't have a tree but sure get a lot of leaves. Mulch some, bag some, ignore some.

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I know my neighbor does this, but it's not my fenced yard he blows them into, but the yard behind his property as it's their trees that share their leaves with him. :laughing:

He gets so upset I think he's gonna blow a gasket..

I pulled a lawn sweeper behind a rear discharge deck for years and they work well. The downside with these is capacity. It depends on how many leaves we're talking about and how many times you will have to empty it. I mow 1 acre and I have trees on 3 sides which means a lot of leaves. I finally got tired of emptying so many times and bought a large pull behind vacuum system. I've been very impressed by it.

Sounds good..