Leaf Clean Up Made Easy
The best part of fall is the leaves changing from green to gold. The warm landscape sets the optimal scene for sweaters and hot chocolate. The bad news is that those pretty gold leaves fall and mask your fresh cut lawn, wreaking havoc on your yard.
Sure, you could wait until spring. If you’re too busy to get the rake out, it wouldn’t be the worst to let the leaves fall where they are. But, you’ll be stuck with a bigger job in the spring, when leaves will be wet and matted into heavy clumps.
A thin layer will rot away without a problem, but neglecting a thick layer of leaves will result in mold and mildew, setting a breeding ground for bugs and fungus, and ultimately killing your grass.
This, of course can be prevented. Using these helpful leaf pick-up tips, you can help your grass get the sunlight it needs so you will have less work in the future.
Lower the lawnmower
We’ve been preaching the advantages of giving your lawn some slack the past couple of months, advising you to set the mower to maximum height for the summer. But now summer is over, and it’s time to drop it down as low as it’ll go without catching the turf.
The low mower will vaporize any leaves that have already fallen and will make the grass shorter, therefore making it more difficult to catch floating leaves that might pass through the neighborhood.
Consider using a mulching mower (the kind without a bag) to shred the leaves and drop them back into the yard as compost.
Power up a leaf blower
With flexible hoses and a large range of speed triggers, leaf blowers give you plenty of power to remove trapped leaves from your yard. We recommend wearing ear protection while using them though, as even the low-power blowers are pretty loud.
When looking for a new blower, consider a two-cycle, gasoline-powered blower, which can collect leaves in tarps or blow them directly to the curb.
If you have a large yard, you might consider a backpack model, which tends to be more comfortable than handheld blowers.
Tarp transportation
Sometimes it’s tempting to try to transport fallen leaves by hand, rake, or blower to their new destination without relying on bags. But you might be creating more work for yourself. Instead, rake or blow them onto a tarp and then drag the tarp to the leaves’ destination.
This way you won’t have to scoop leaves into a dozen garbage bags, or repeatedly re-rake areas where leaves have fallen out of your direction. Just drag the tarp to the curb or nearby woods and dump them – it’s that easy.
Mimic nature
We mentioned composting above. It’s the refeeding of leaves back into your yard for nourishment. This is a good way to recycle leaves if you do not have a leaf-collecting service.
To break down large mats of leaves, rake them into a pile and run the lawnmower over them. For composting, it might be helpful to add other materials such as grass clippings to the pile to speed up the breakdown process. Just be sure to shred and mulch them up before the snow hits and the bits will break down and feed the soil.
Get the kids involved
Putting the kids to work might seem like a chore at first, but it will soon become an amazing memory in no time. Give them rakes and quality, well-fitted work gloves, and watch them clear up the yard in no time. The labor team might goof-off a little – mostly by getting into the fall spirit, jumping into their neat piles – but that’s all for the fun of it.
We hope this was helpful as you start picking up those gold leaves from your yard. Once you’re done hauling the leaves, we hope you sit back and enjoy the view of your beautiful fall lawn.
For expert lawn care help schedule a lawn service with us at Killingsworth!
