BS: Maple Leaf Rag

Subject: RE: BS: Maple Leaf Rag
From: frogprince
Date: 05 Nov 09 - 07:41 PM

I did blow the leaves from one side of our yard back over the line. But if I blew anything like all the maple leaves back over there, they would get most of our birch leaves in the deal. I really started this as much to blow off steam as anything, but wound up getting some helpful advise.

Subject: RE: BS: Maple Leaf Rag
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 05 Nov 09 - 12:08 PM

"If I'm a "prisoner". it's to the neighor's large maples."

Aha! If I were you, I'd just rake all those maple leaves just over the property line and let the neighbors deal with them. (The neighbors might not even care.)

Do it when they're not home. Try to be artful about it; don't just rake them into a straight line.

Subject: RE: BS: Maple Leaf Rag
From: frogprince
Date: 04 Nov 09 - 05:16 PM

Kat, you expect me to smile at a personal slam like that?
HUMPH!! .
A good friend had a close neighbor jump all over him because he let his grandkids play on his own lawn; the guy was all upset about the damage they might do to the grass. Said neighbor got to hear a little discourse on the relative values of grandchildren and grass.

Subject: RE: BS: Maple Leaf Rag
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 04 Nov 09 - 04:41 PM

Leaves that are bagged are collected by the city (Calgary, Canada) and mulched for parks and other use. This year, pumpkins were collected for the same purpose. After the New Year, trees that are brought to collection points also are rendered into mulch.

Subject: RE: BS: Maple Leaf Rag
From: katlaughing
Date: 04 Nov 09 - 02:06 PM

We use a mulch mower, too, but our grass doesn't amount to much and we don't mind leaving the leaves. Out here one can never have too many trees. We have several "volunteers" which have come up..poplars, elms, and a russian olive. They can all grow in drought conditions, so we let a few of them grow...still there will never be enough shade or two many leaves.:-)

Ahem...frogprincedarlin'...I just wanted to make sure you saw this posting of mine. Not trying to pick on you, but i hope it brings a smile.:-)

Subject: RE: BS: Maple Leaf Rag
From: Bill D
Date: 04 Nov 09 - 01:25 PM

ummm...be sure the 'source of the problem' falls on a piece of plastic, so you can drag it away.. ☺

Subject: RE: BS: Maple Leaf Rag
From: Rapparee
Date: 04 Nov 09 - 01:09 PM

Wait until January, use a chainsaw on the source of the problem. Problem solved!

Subject: RE: BS: Maple Leaf Rag
From: Bill D
Date: 04 Nov 09 - 01:00 PM

I 'might' have more trees than I need, but the only ones I would want to get rid of would cost a fortune to remove...in the back, on a hill, and VERY large.....with no vehicle access close. If one falls on my house, I at least have insurance that would cover it...... I don't try to remove all the leaves way back up there....just the ones close to the house.

Subject: RE: BS: Maple Leaf Rag
From: frogprince
Date: 04 Nov 09 - 12:18 PM

We have four birchs, a couple of lilac bushs, and a "snowball" bush.
The fallout from them takes just a little work. If I'm a "prisoner". it's to the neighor's large maples.

We do have evergreens too; three blue spruce, two pines, three "columnars" that I guess are something in the cedar family; they just call for trimming lower branchs occasionally, and a couple of branchs that started to crowd the lines into the house.

Subject: RE: BS: Maple Leaf Rag
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 04 Nov 09 - 12:07 PM

How many trees do you have? Some trees are nice, but there comes a point where a property simply has too many trees. This is true in terms of leaves and landscaping. It's also reflected in the value of your property. Trees make value go up for a while, but when there are too many trees, value starts to decline.

For example, I used to give tomato plants to kids I know. One family had an expensive house out in the suburbs, but they had only one corner, about 3' by 3', that got enough sun to grow a tomato plant. In a few years, that was gone too.

Those people were prisoners of their trees.

Subject: RE: BS: Maple Leaf Rag
From: Bill D
Date: 04 Nov 09 - 11:25 AM

If you have clear,level space, it may not even be necessary to pull the plastic into a bundle. In the front yard, I often just drag it by the front corners.

(In the back, I have to negotiate steps and narrow walks to GET them to the front.)

Subject: RE: BS: Maple Leaf Rag
From: frogprince
Date: 04 Nov 09 - 11:19 AM

Bill, I believe I've heard of that, but hadn't thought of it; thanks. It especially might make sense, as I need to get a lot of leaves from where they concentrate, accross some yards of lawn that
is usually pretty clear, to the only place where I really want to burn them.

Subject: RE: BS: Maple Leaf Rag
From: Bill D
Date: 04 Nov 09 - 11:08 AM

(just unfolded the plastic I'm currently using, and it is actually closer to 8X10...*shrug* I guess it depends on the roll and your confidence)

Subject: RE: BS: Maple Leaf Rag
From: Bill D
Date: 04 Nov 09 - 11:01 AM

I did just my paved driveway yesterday, and the blower plus 'kick-walking' moved the leaves just fine. The back yard is just beginning to fill up...mostly Oak, and the very last tree to let go is the Maple in the front yard. I also have a Sycamore with these HUGE leaves in the front...even though it is near the street, the plastic sheet trick makes moving those piles twice as easy as raking, blowing or 'walking' them the full 30 ft.

Subject: RE: BS: Maple Leaf Rag
From: Bill D
Date: 04 Nov 09 - 10:51 AM

I do the 'walking' bit to move leaves also (I have to get a bunch from the back yard to the street where they are collected)....but for LOTS of leaves, I go to the hardware store and buy a roll of heavy-duty plastic (3 mil.?) and cut it to about 12X15 ft. Blow the leaves onto the plastic...until you think it's full enough, then grab corners and made a bundle and drag it! Takes only a couple of tries to decide how much you want to drag. If you are reasonably careful, a sheet will last several years. Small tears can be patched with duct tape.

Been using this trick for about 18 years now.. (I used to do it with big plastic trash cans, but the sheet plastic is 6-7 times larger and 10 times easier to load.)

Subject: RE: BS: Maple Leaf Rag
From: Beer
Date: 04 Nov 09 - 09:47 AM

I'm sure contracting out has crossed your mind? Maybe just to darn expensive though.
Adrien

Subject: RE: BS: Maple Leaf Rag
From: frogprince
Date: 04 Nov 09 - 09:46 AM

One fallback, I can probably come up with a couple or four neighbor kids to do it, and I may have to decide it's worth a few bucks. The neighbor's boy and a couple of his buds did the last part of the job last year.

Subject: RE: BS: Maple Leaf Rag
From: frogprince
Date: 04 Nov 09 - 09:40 AM

Just too darn much to leave on the lawn, guys. One year I never had a chance to get them up, and it messed up the yard bad. It might not have been quite as bad if I had got at them with a mulching blade on the mower, but this is mounds that are for the most part on a quarter acre or less of our grass; a couple of times I have lucked out, and the wind has come up enough in the right direction to clear most of them out for me. I'll survive, but it gets...interesting...
I have a lawn sweeper to tow with the lawn tractor/mower, but I can't count on getting once around the lawn without it being jammed full, so that takes forever too.

Subject: RE: BS: Maple Leaf Rag
From: Beer
Date: 04 Nov 09 - 09:27 AM

Well Dean, you have seen my place and Bobad has about the same in lawn cutting. Maybe a bit more. When I cut my lawn (grass and leaves) I mulch as well. This time of the year brings in a lot more fall than growth so in most of the area I don't do a damn thing. I firmly believe that the leaves fall for a reason and that is a blanket for the trees,shrubs and bulbs. In fact the only place that I do blow leaves are into the Butterfly garden area and bird sanctuary area. When spring comes I blow the leaves out and do the general clean up.
Maybe Bobad and I can get away from the perfect manicure lawn because we don't live in a city or suburb. Not saying that you do have to do this but if you can just leave it till the spring and take your time in the spring cleaning. It can be just as dangerous as shoveling snow. Then there comes a time in our life that we have to admit to ourselves that we just can't do this particular activity any more so we have to make serious choices. But we won't go there as I'm sure your in great physical shape
Beer (adrien)

Subject: RE: BS: Maple Leaf Rag
From: bobad
Date: 04 Nov 09 - 09:10 AM

"great (or lazy) minds........"

Subject: RE: BS: Maple Leaf Rag
From: Sandy Mc Lean
Date: 04 Nov 09 - 09:09 AM

Cross posted there bobad!

Subject: RE: BS: Maple Leaf Rag
From: Sandy Mc Lean
Date: 04 Nov 09 - 09:08 AM

I just use a mulching mower to chew them up when they dry. That returns the nutrients to the soil.

Subject: RE: BS: Maple Leaf Rag
From: bobad
Date: 04 Nov 09 - 09:06 AM

Don't know the size of your lawn vis-a-vis the amount of leaves but one thought is to mow them with a mulching mower. That is what we do, we never rake leaves, just mow them onto the lawn, it doesn't seem to have done the lawn any harm, mind you we don't have the typical perfect suburban type lawn, more of a country style rough and rolling one.

Subject: BS: Maple Leaf Rag
From: frogprince
Date: 03 Nov 09 - 11:07 PM

No, it's not a music post.
We have four white birch in our yard. They look nice and gold for a bit in the fall, and set off our house nice. Then the leaves come down. Like as not it's too rainy, or windy, or both, to clean them up for the next few days. Then the leaves come off of the neighbor's two big maples. A major share of them land all over our yard. God doesn't even want to know how many of those leaves there are. One thing in this world that I don't dare do anymore is rake leaves; I haven't had any real trouble with my back for a long time, but I'm not about to do lots and lots of raking leaves. So I bought a leaf blower a couple of years ago. It works fine up to a point; then you just get a mound so big the blower won't move it any more. There are so blasted many of the things, I would be until Christmas putting them into bags to get them out back where I pen them in wire to burn them. I've got an old pitchfork, and I tried moving the pile along with that, but it was still taking a long time; in the meantime, I was getting little gusts of wind working against me, and wondering when the wind would come up and cost me all the progress I'd made. Finally I had a small stroke of genius. I started doing something I'd never seen or heard of before, but which is so simple that millions of people must have done it. I worked up a pile with the blower, and then walked along, legs apart aways, dragging my feet, and just shoved a mess of the pile by walking. It only worked so much at at time, and then I had to bring the pile up with the blower again, but I was making a lot more progress than any other way that I've tried. Finally got most of the mess rounded up. I came in as tired as I can ever remember being in my life. Had to get the things up, we've got snow threatening, and there were so many they would have totally trashed the lawn. Next year the maples will be bigger, with more leaves, and I'll be another year older. Autumn is pretty, but I'm beginning to dread it.
            Dean