its that time. the "hate" portion of "love-hate". leaves

[vash]

Gah. I time my life in weeks. a week between the dumptruck showing up to empty my green bin. hahha..

I fill it up on thurs, watch the leaves dump all week, garbage truck shows up in a week...repeat. I climb into the green bin to stomp down the leaves!!

on the bright side, my new electric leaf blower is king!!

but all year enjoying the shade. changing oil under the shade..washing my car in the shade..catching up with the neighbors in the shade...nice shade..thank you leaves, thank you trees!

now? damn leaves..you damn trees!! hahahha...

bye bye 2025..you fickle b.

(phew!! my meeting mic was muted)

[vash]

sorry.. jet lag relapse last night. I am loopy as hell right now.

I think I slept 6 minutes.

[stevej37]

You're fortunate that you have a truck to pick them up.
NA here.

[GH85Carrera]

All of our leaves go to our compost pile. None to the trash or recycle bin. We turn the leaves into soil. And don't call it dirt around my master gardener wife, it is soil.

[rwest]

We have a community yard waste site about 5 miles from my house. I have 4 bags of shredded leaves that I need to get there before they are completely under the snow.

[jyl]

We have "Leaf Days" in late November and early December. Twice a year, the city sends frontend loaders and dump trucks and crews to pick up the leaves from my neighborhood's streets. Only the most heavily tree'd neighborhoods get this. By the time Leaf Day comes, we have thick slimy leaf and goo layers on the streets in addition to big smelly wet mounds of piled leaves by the curbs. The former is the reason the city cares: cars spin out, pedestrians fall, cyclists crash on that snot-slick stuff, storm sewers clog, it is an infrastructure problem.

Leaf Day is my favorite day of the year. T-1 the streets look like they are covered with stinking mud, T+1 they are clean and beautiful. By T+5 the accumulation is noticeable again, which is why there is a second Leaf Day. So I rake and blow all the leaves from my sidewalk out the the curb piles, but the leaves on the grass and in the planting areas stay and become mulch - excuse me, Glen's wife, "soil" - for next year.

I bought a Makita 36v leaf blower, it is amazing, I almost never have to turn it up from throttle position 1 (1-5) and at that setting it is quiet. It is also defective - it runs regardless of whether the trigger is pulled. I can't decide if I want to return it or open it up to fix it. Anyone know if the trigger is a simple on-off switch or if there is some electronic gizmo?

[stevej37]

My 20V Bauer trigger has 3 positions. Off..slow..fast. The slow is very quiet.

[vash]

I just called a garden maintenance company for an estimate. hahhah..

[oldE]

The leaves stay where they are around here. My wife will tell you there are any number of beneficial insects, including bees, which winter under the leaf litter. Hey! We're out in the country with a 1/4 mile long driveway. No one sees it to complain and you can be darned sure I'm not about to complain because I don't have to rake leaves!

[Baz]

[KFC911]

If you don't love me .... leave me!

- Unloved

[GH85Carrera]

I was visiting my brother in Montgomery, AL one fall.

They just rake up the leaves and put them in a large pile by the front curb. The city comes along with a giant vacuum - shredder and sucks up the leaves, and shreds them into the back of a truck.

I laughed and said that would not work very well in Oklahoma with our winds.

Some of the leaves, I have to leave where they fell, as they are free mulch - insulation for some of her plant's roots next to fences and in the various beds.

[p911dad]

I blow the leaves into the woods every few weeks as they accumulate and then in Dec. I have a guy come out and pick up all the leaves, sticks, etc. from the woods. The reason I do that is to remove sheltering spots for the copperheads that like that environment.

[LWJ]

Well crap. I have 75 trees. Mostly big leaf maple. And you know what, the leaves are big. And plentiful. I have a Husky gas blower (that my neighbors MUST hate) and use the damn thing at least once a week. It typically takes me until March to get all the leaves picked up. This year, I am working (at a job) waaay less and blowing / picking up far more often, and I may have the back yard mostly in shape and about 25% of the front done. None the less. There is a S load of leaves. We can't put them in the street anymore. So I either move them down the hill into the woody sort of area or scoop them up into a bin. But yes. I get it.

[Skip Newsom]

We have several acres of greenbelt behind us (one of the reasons for buying this house) that has Big Leaf Maple, Alder, Cottonwood and a smattering of Evergreens.
Early on I had 3 European Hornbeams planted based on suggestions from a local Nursery- I was told they only grow to 40'X40'.
I got over achievers and they are last to shed about a million little leaves every year so I'm moving leaves for about 2 months.
I still just rake sometimes since its a decent workout and I always feel better after I stop.

I bought a Japanese 2 stroke leaf blower early on that just won't die.
Couple years back I added a Toro electric to my collection that I like but it it goes through to 2.0 amp battery before I'm done with the backyard.
I picked up a 4.0 to switch out.
The old trusty 2 stroke moves more air, so it still gets used at times too.

Ah these first world problems!