Fuck that!! All my neighbors spend hours raking, piling, and bagging leaves. Guess what I do? Jack shit! I let the wind blow them from my yard to theirs to rake up again.

Give me a compelling, REAL reason why I need to do this bullshit?

I don't rake either. I pull out the ride-on lawn mower and I mow the leaves into little pieces. Some are so small that they turn into mulch that goes into the ground and feeds my lawn while the rest is blown away and the pieces are small enough so that nobody else feels the need to rake them.

Problem solved.

leaves kill ur grass. as long as u dont mind having dead nasty brown ugly grass in the sping\summer then let them sit and rot.

Ogien Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I don't rake either. I pull out the ride-on lawn
> mower and I mow the leaves into little pieces.
> Some are so small that they turn into mulch that
> goes into the ground and feeds my lawn while the
> rest is blown away and the pieces are small enough
> so that nobody else feels the need to rake them.
>
> Problem solved.


don't believe that. how's your grass looking?

I also "mulch" them up with the mower - The little pieces make great fertilizer and have never had a problem doing that in 20 years. Sure saves on bagging / trips to the dump / time :)

Ogien Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I don't rake either. I pull out the ride-on lawn
> mower and I mow the leaves into little pieces.
> Some are so small that they turn into mulch that
> goes into the ground and feeds my lawn while the
> rest is blown away and the pieces are small enough
> so that nobody else feels the need to rake them.
>
> Problem solved.

I use a push mulching mower (it has NO cutting outlet) to do the same thing - have for 20+ years at this location. Never rake (though, admittedly, I blow a few (relatively speaking) leaves out of a flower garden, THEN mow them).

> how's your grass looking?

I have one of the best lawns on the street (and a robust one, too, that requires minimal chemicals each year).

The secret to success, of course, is the chopping of the leaves into itsy bitsy pieces.

Whole leaves blow into the neighbor's yards or down the street (...), the itsy bitsy pieces stay around and almost instantly go below grass level.

In place mulching defined.

Depends on how many leaves you get on your yard. If you get a lot, mowing them doesn't really work after a couple of weeks. You end up with a thick layer of mulch that smothers whatever grass you had.

Depends on type of leaves, length of grass, and how wet they are.

I got these medium thin leaves that are wet and form a mat over the grass. No real choice but to use a rake to get them up (otherwise they'll kill the grass). Mower/blower don't work.

First of all, to answer the question. My grass looks just fine.

Mowing the leaves is not the same as mowing your lawn. You have to mow in rows with the blower section always aimed in the same direction. This way you are mulching many of the leaves but you're also blowing the larger pieces in the same direction. I usually aim so that when I'm done there is a little (though long) lump of brownish powder/leaf bits at the base of my 5' wooden fence where it doesn't harm anything and simply goes away fairly quickly.

It also depends on how thick the carpet of leaves covering your yard is. I mean it's different for larger leaf quantities than it would be for lighter ones.

If you want to try it, and I recommend trying it, you're going to have to experiment a bit and see what works best for you.

Have to rake the leaves; wouldn't want the weeds to die.

cause you don't want to look like some effing new arrival or redneck

I rake them up, then use the leaf blower with the vacuum attachment to chop them up, then dump them under the azaleas to serve as mulch during the winter.

It's the difference between pristine and average. Some people take pride in keeping their yard looking perfect, having the best landscaping or having the best Christmas lights display.

Leaving shit on your yard will cause the grass to be spotty looking in the Spring.

I am assuming you are also the guy who never washes your car because the rain does that. Personally the only time my car gets dirty is when it rains.

I have literally 1 tree on my property. Yet I spend hours/days every fucking fall raking my neighbors' leaves from their uncleared property which has over 20 full size trees. It was awesome when the house was empty for a year or so and I could just dump the leaves over the fence. Alas, that train has sailed...

I should've looked up when we bought the house. :(

Oh and to answer the question, and like I said above I feel absolutely no fucking ownership over these fucking neighbors' evil fucking leaves to the point that I sometimes leave them in giant fucking piles b/c I don't have enough time during the weekends to rake up 25 giant piles of leaves and they kill the grass all winter, well, it's just b/c that's what lazy ass losers do. Lazy ass losers leave the leaves for someone else.

Raked, blew, mowed & bagged today. 65 bags! Glad to get it done before it rained and turned colder, but can hardly move now. So tired of doing this crap every year!

Hire the neighbor's teenagers to rake and bag them up for you if you can get them away from their facebooks and twitters and whatever other crap they are into these days. The hard work for honest pay would be a good thing for them and serve as a good reality check.

F the rake, that's for amateurs.

I mow the leaves while I mow the lawn up until mid-November (e.g., now). I then mow and bag the leaves and put them into the compost pile for to cook until Spring 2013, when I'll then put them in the garden. The compost pile I created from leaves from last Fall will be going into the garden next Spring (along with all the kitchen waste).

I'm glad the weather will be breaking as I'll be mowing the leaves up this weekend.

Oh the travails of suburbia. To think of all the hours of desultory, counter-productive labor you've invested in the name of vanity. All that effort resisting a natural process that if assisted (through mulching) actually improves soil quality. If a consideration of your weekly routine, monotonous life, and values and priorities doesn't trigger a mid-life crisis then you haven't thought deep enough about it. Oh the travails of suburbia.

It's a never-ending battle where I live. Our house is in a gully, so all of my neighbors leaves blow over here, and it's a serious PITA. I've taken the blower/vacuum, and rake out three times over the past week, and each time I've spent at least four hours going at it. We only have a 1/3 of an acre, and half of that is woods, but the leaves are deep. When I blew them back to the edge of the woods to later vaccum up, the line of leaves was 50-60 feet long, and three feet deep. I really want to get a lawn tractor to suck them all up into the bag collectors, and I bet it'll allow me to finish the job in 30-40 minutes, but right now we have no storage room for such a thing, and it's sort of questionable about what use it'll be on 1/3 acre of property.

Btw, we finally started having a service cut our grass a couple of years ago, and they're really good, but they charged over $100 for blowing and picking-up the leaves in our yard. That garbage is WAY too expensive, so we're back to going it ourselves again.

Oh, and for the people talking about mulching, sorry, that doesn't work with large amounts of leaves. Even when we blow them into the woods, the next spring we're left with a compacted layer of leaves at least six inches deep, and it has to be picked up. As for the grass, even if you mulch it into a very fine substance, too much of it will kill your entire yard.

==================================================================================================
"And if any women or children get their legs torn off, or faces caved in, well, it's tough shit for them." -2LT. Bert Stiles, 505th, 339th (On Berlin Bombardier Mission, 1944).



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 11/16/2011 11:54PM by ThePackLeader.

Raking is good exercise for you and the lawn

And the smell it smells like autumn

ThePackLeader Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> Oh, and for the people talking about mulching,
> sorry, that doesn't work with large amounts of
> leaves. Even when we blow them into the woods, the
> next spring we're left with a compacted layer of
> leaves at least six inches deep, and it has to be
> picked up. As for the grass, even if you mulch it
> into a very fine substance, too much of it will
> kill your entire yard.

I've been mulching the leaves into our yard for six years now. Our yard's never looked better!

Of course, I also take care of it manually (thatching, amendments, weeding by hand, etc.), so maybe it's not *just* the leaves. To each his own, but I know what works for me and my yard.

Its the governments job to rake your leaves. Rich people hire illegals to rake their leaves that means I am entitled to have my leaves raked as well.
Vote Obama in 2012!!

riley Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Oh the travails of suburbia. To think of all the
> hours of desultory, counter-productive labor
> you've invested in the name of vanity. All that
> effort resisting a natural process that if
> assisted (through mulching) actually improves soil
> quality. If a consideration of your weekly
> routine, monotonous life, and values and
> priorities doesn't trigger a mid-life crisis then
> you haven't thought deep enough about it. Oh the
> travails of suburbia.

You're an ass.

Mulching is great for a certain amount of leaves, beyond that, all you do is bury the grass in mulch. Some of us have way too many leaves to do that for all the leaves. Sure it's great soil a few years down the road, but there's NO grass left.

I usually use the lawn tractor and mulch the leaves every other week, and on the off week I get out the mulcher which bags the leaves, those go in the garden and compost areas for the first couple of weeks, but now they go into a brush pile in the woods. I'll be dealing with leaves into January or I'll end up with mud instead of grass.

theShadowToo Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I've been mulching the leaves into our yard for
> six years now. Our yard's never looked better!

As noted above, I've been mulching the leaves (and every lawn mowing, too, for that matter) back into the lawn for 20+ years. Have never bagged either mowed grass or leaves.

A few times per year I put down a bag of fertilizer of some type; sometimes I miss doing it (like this fall - maybe still will). I don't dethatch nor aerate nor anything else - simply run the no-outlet mower over the lawn for mowing or mulching.

Mower similar to this:

It depends on how many leaves you get in your yard. Mulching some of them into your lawn is fine. But you probably should rake most of them.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://bible.cc/1_corinthians/13-11.htm

You shouldn't have to rake the leaves in your yard when for 20 pesos and a cerveza Paco will have them raked, bagged and hauled off in 30 minutes (depending on lot size).

I think I live next door to the OP. I end up doing leaves maybe 4-6 times per year and he does them once.

There are only so many leaves that you can deal with using a mulching mower before you end up doing more harm than good to your lawn. I'm well past that point, but I do borrow a chipper shredder and run the leaves through it a couple of times to reduce them to a small size that I can then use as is in gardens. If you want to invest a little more time you can mix the shredded leaves with topsoil and use it as good fill for low lying areas in your lawn, or you can wet the shredded leaves thoroughly, heap them in a pile, turn it a couple of times during the winter and by late spring you will have a very nice but much smaller pile of excellent compost.

First comment I read is from someone who has a very limited vocabulary and a filthy mouth. Last time I come here

Viking Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> First comment I read is from someone who has a
> very limited vocabulary and a filthy mouth. Last
> time I come here


Goodbye asshole!!

Viking Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> First comment I read is from someone who has a
> very limited vocabulary and a filthy mouth. Last
> time I come here

Wow, I didn't think a viking could be offended let alone so easily.

Anyway, back to the matter at hand...

I break out a huge tarp, rake all my leaves onto the tarp (probably 20 bags worth) and then after nightfall I dump them over the fence onto my neighbor's lawn. She likes taking my dick in her ass, too so...what's a few leaves amongst sodomists, right?

you must be a real joy to live next to

LeaveRaking4Chumps Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Fuck that!! All my neighbors spend hours raking,
> piling, and bagging leaves. Guess what I do? Jack
> shit! I let the wind blow them from my yard to
> theirs to rake up again.
>
> Give me a compelling, REAL reason why I need to do
> this bullshit?

I don't do it either. I work all week and why should I use my personal time to do that work when I have kids or Mexicans to do it for me.

I have a small back yard that is fenced in by a little picket fence. I have a black maple in my back yard (very dense leaves). If I did not rake, all these leaves would stay in my back yard and it would be about 4 ft high of leaves. This of course would kill my grass if I left them. Also the wind comes mostly from the South/Southwest and all the neighbors leaves fly right back into my back yard. I have been raking this yard for 10 years now and for the most part I like it however, if the neighbors do not rake their yards (which they don't), my back yard would be as high as the picket fence is and going over. I honestly believe for you who do not rake, you are not thinking of any of your neighbors. Those leaves that fall from your trees go in someone else's yard to rake. And for those who wait until all the leaves have fallen, well just think of my back yard that I have diligently raked until mine are gone and then I have to rake everyone else's out of my yard. It happens to a lot of people. So be courteous and it can be fun to do. Mulching is ok as long as you do not have acidic leaves that will kill grass if you aren't careful. Best to rake.

It will kill any grass you have if you don't rake, that is if you have any grass. I am guessing that if you have to ask this stupid question you don't give a damn and don't have any grass to begin with.

cause u must

You should rake your leaves or blow them because it is the neighborly thing to do, thus also the right thing to do. Those of you who see it as no big deal and nature's way are perfectly entitled to that opinion as long as your non-action is not interfering with your neighbor's enjoyment of his property, especially those of us who happen to want a tidy winter yard. We are just as entitled to that. If you want to do nothing then don't move into an incorporated suburban environment, move to a rural one. I am 60 years old with significant health issues yet every year I spend 6-8 weeks trying to keep my lawn clear of mature oak leaves from the two yards behind me who rake them to the back property line and leave them for the winter. Oak leaves are acidic and stay around year after year. Hornets and wasps lay eggs in those piles. Yet, all these people in their thirties take advantage of my neatness and watch, yes, watch me rake up their mess. Year after year. There is a word for this and it's considered a sin: Sloth. I have timidly asked them to please clean up the proerty line leaves that fall to my property below theirs and needless to say, they blew me off. And that does not even count me risking life and limb getting them out of my gutters to stop my basement flooding. I can't afford to pay for the work until I absolutely can no longer do it, as I and my disabled veteran are retired. So every fall, I spend weeks on pain meds for my back and hips. My comfort is the thought that in the hereafter what goes around comes around.

You're fighting Mother Nature. Trees drop leaves. Not everyone shares your hatred of nature. Deal with it.

Nobody has a responsibility to keep leaves or other debris from falling or blowing into other people's yards. Whatever nature ends up putting in your yard is what you are responsible for. If you are both too old and too poor to deal with the situation, check to see about senior services in your area. Schools, churches, and local governments often set up free fall leaf-raking services for seniors. Look around and see if you can find one. Unless you've been one of those whining about some "cradle-to-grave nanny state". Then you should get out there and rake and rake and rake until you drop dead, just as you always wanted.

Mary Curtiss Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> You should rake your leaves or blow them because
> it is the neighborly thing to do, thus also the
> right thing to do. Those of you who see it as no
> big deal and nature's way are perfectly entitled
> to that opinion as long as your non-action is not
> interfering with your neighbor's enjoyment of his
> property, especially those of us who happen to
> want a tidy winter yard. We are just as entitled
> to that. If you want to do nothing then don't move
> into an incorporated suburban environment, move to
> a rural one. I am 60 years old with significant
> health issues yet every year I spend 6-8 weeks
> trying to keep my lawn clear of mature oak leaves
> from the two yards behind me who rake them to the
> back property line and leave them for the winter.
> Oak leaves are acidic and stay around year after
> year. Hornets and wasps lay eggs in those piles.
> Yet, all these people in their thirties take
> advantage of my neatness and watch, yes, watch me
> rake up their mess. Year after year. There is a
> word for this and it's considered a sin: Sloth. I
> have timidly asked them to please clean up the
> proerty line leaves that fall to my property below
> theirs and needless to say, they blew me off. And
> that does not even count me risking life and limb
> getting them out of my gutters to stop my basement
> flooding. I can't afford to pay for the work until
> I absolutely can no longer do it, as I and my
> disabled veteran are retired. So every fall, I
> spend weeks on pain meds for my back and hips. My
> comfort is the thought that in the hereafter what
> goes around comes around.

Life is too short to get this exercised over leaves. If there are leaves (or twigs or tree limbs) in your yard, and no one deliberately put them there, then they are your responsibility. Frankly, your neighbors probably aren't helping you because you come off as insufferably self-righteous. And you seem to derive a lot of satisfaction from playing the role of a martyr.

My brother owns a landscaping company and he's always said that the people who create leaf "mulch" with anything but a true mulching mower are fooling themselves and it's not good for their grass.

No problem though, their mistake makes more business for him.

Leaving grass clippings on the lawn in the summer is a good thing as well, but there's only so far to take this idea. A mulching blade should let a mower get nice dry leaves down to an acceptable size (1/4-inch diameter or so) in fairly short order as long as you don't have very many leaves. Won't work as well with wet leaves (the worst kind) and wet or dry, you have to be sure to leave at least 3/4-inch of grass showing above the mulch layer as it settles. You can easily still have lots of leaves left when you reach that point. Then there is the fact that most leaves around here are from oaks and those are quite acidic. Good for the azaleas, but not for the grass. You'll need regular applications of lime to keep the lawn healthy if you just mulch leaves into the lawn year after year. Easier to put the leaves in a compost area and dump sufficient amounts of lime in there along with them. Stir it all around a little bit (just some determined walking around through the new deposits should do it) and in a couple of years, you'll have the base for mixing up a nice top-dressing for the lawn. A little humus, manure, and granular material and you'll be good to go.

Such mean comments. What if it were your mother struggling to keep up her property value alone. Would you want her neighbors wishing her to Drop Dead? The fact that leave raking is difficult is why there are services paid and volunteer. A volunteer was a good suggestion. I also also agree that I am completely responsible for what blows into my yard and I don't hate nature, I love it. When I was younger, leaf raking was never a problem. But you miss my point. My backyard neighbors blow their billions of leaves from 20 mature oaks one day each fall right to the property line and then leave the deep piles to blow below over 6 yards all winter long. Our streets are tiered. These people have gotten complaints from more than just me. And I waited ten years to say anything. Two families have already reported them to the HOA for lawn maintenance violations and No I was not one of them because their not mowing has no impact on my own yard other than devaluing the neighborhood for everyone concerned with future ease of selling their home. Two other neighbors have fought them on taking one of the trees down whose branches cross property lines, mine included. I never asked them to do anything other than clean up after a seven story tree. They refuse to prune the tree. What in the world is self righteous about any of that? Their trees and yards cause overwork for others. I guess accusing them of Sloth was insulting to some of you, but the fact is they are as lazy as I am industrious. Yards like mine and not theirs are why my neighborhood has kept its resale value. I will be selling soon and must have it looking as nice as I possibly can. But I do apologize for the sloth remark. I am tired and frustrated by a situation that has been just getting worse for years as these native oak trees become huge. In the end, I blame the builder for leaving indigeneous trees up in homeowner postage stamp yards. They are woods type trees and don't belong on 1/8 acre densely populated suburban neighborhood lots in Northern Virginia.

And another thing I forgot to say to those of you being so equally self rightous on the right to never rake as if we are talking about living deep in Sherwood Forest instead of Little Rocky Run. I never even once blew, raked, or tossed any of those leaves from my neighbors' trees back onto their properties. I pick them up and bag them because I know once they fall on my property they are legally mine. But I sure see plenty of people who post that they "just blow them right back onto the yard they came from." I consider that terrible. I rake up on all three sides of my property with a wide magin and save my abutting neighbors a lot of work since they are at work. My moto is your leaves today are mine tomorrow and so it makes little sense to act like there is a spray painted line between properties. I do the same with snow. I power up that snowblower and do many driveways, most of the sidewalks, and in front of four families mailboxes. I don't act like my property boundarie are spray painted. I just wish the favor was ever returned. I have never gotten into a single argument in 20 years with any of them. I wave and smile as they drive on by oblivious. If that makes me a martyr then okay I am a martyr. I was taught that being a martyr was admirable.

LEAF BLOWER, MOTHERFUCKER!

I have mulched the leaves rather than rake for the last 40yrs. It's a myth that it kills the lawn - it's a lot more natural than vacuuming up every leaf, then dumping chemicals on the ground to make up for what has been taken away. Same goes for bagging your grass clippings - how would grass survive if it was killing itself?

Oh for Pete's sake! All leaves are not the same they come from different kinds of trees. Most have insect larvae and fungii spores in them which is not good for your lawn grass. A very light covering of fine leaves is okay to let lie on the sunny thicker grassed areas of your lawn because they decompose quickly (ash, redbud, dogwood, crepe myrtle, burning bush leaves, some types of Maple) but acidic thick leaves like All Oak varieties are only useful to mulch into a flower bed with Azelas or hydrangeas. These large, crunchy, brown leaves will kill off your grass even if you mulch them in a finely desicated layer. Too much acid. Plus shaded lawn grasses are finer and not deeply rooted and will rot all winter long under that leaf layer if the grass does not get circulating air and sun. And if you have a lot of snow on top of the leaves you will certainly kill off that area. You will have bald patches. I mean think about it. How much grass do you see growing on the forest floor? None. The carpet of leaves won't grow grass. So do yourself and your neighbor's lawn a favor and clean up the fallen leaves from your venerable old trees. Raking is a great free workout. You "naturalists" are wrong horticulturally and just as insufferable in your own way as the neatnik neighbors you are aggravating. Lawns are work, so respect people who try to keep an attractive one year round.

.
Attachments:

It is easy to pick out the real whiners here. "Why should I rake my leaves?" actually means "Help Me think of great rationalizations as to why I am entitled to spend fall weekends on nothing but my fantasy team. Work in the yard! No way WaWaaa!" The prize whiner is the original, entitled narcissitic poster who startd this thread. The majority of you posters are just piling on the few people who are just trying to discuss a fall chore of staying on top of the leaves on their properties and neighbors who make that harder. A real back breaking chore for many homeowners living on the East Coast. You criticise because you expect other people to pick up your slack. The original whiner actually stated this, if you read back. Foul mouthed, ill informed whiners full of lame excuses for being entitled slackers.

If libs won't take responsibility for their children they sure aren't going to take responsibility for their leaves.

>How much grass do you see growing on the forest floor? None. The carpet of leaves won't grow grass.

Mostly because the trees block sunlight and greedily soak up any water surrounding them. You will note plenty of growth in areas where a tree has fallen.

I do it for one reason and one reason only. It's a fire hazard, especially if a pile of leaves are gathered around my house. All it takes is for one asshole flicking a cigarette in dry weather.

Very excellent point about the piles of dry leaves being a fire hazard Fire Marshall Bill. I forgot that one. When I lived in Chaleston South Carolina after a category 4 hurricane, Hugo, we had brush fires popping up everywhere for awhile because of leaf salad and downed tree limbs for miles. So I hope you have good insurance those of you who allow piles of leaf detrius around for months because it's natural. That's also why you see signs posted all over neighborhoods warning people not to dump yard debris in commmon areas and storm drains. So all in all, I think the rakers win this disagreement.

People who live in Fairfax are whiny cunts. Evidence is shown in the above posts.

damn libs Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> If libs won't take responsibility for their
> children they sure aren't going to take
> responsibility for their leaves.

Look what YOU did to your brain. Talk about irresponsible!

Scunts Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> People who live in Fairfax are whiny cunts.
> Evidence is shown in the above posts.

Get back to us once you turn 12.

Mary Curtiss Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> You should rake your leaves or blow them because
> it is the neighborly thing to do, thus also the
> right thing to do. Those of you who see it as no
> big deal and nature's way are perfectly entitled
> to that opinion as long as your non-action is not
> interfering with your neighbor's enjoyment of his
> property, especially those of us who happen to
> want a tidy winter yard. We are just as entitled
> to that. If you want to do nothing then don't move
> into an incorporated suburban environment, move to
> a rural one. I am 60 years old with significant
> health issues yet every year I spend 6-8 weeks
> trying to keep my lawn clear of mature oak leaves
> from the two yards behind me who rake them to the
> back property line and leave them for the winter.
> Oak leaves are acidic and stay around year after
> year. Hornets and wasps lay eggs in those piles.
> Yet, all these people in their thirties take
> advantage of my neatness and watch, yes, watch me
> rake up their mess. Year after year. There is a
> word for this and it's considered a sin: Sloth. I
> have timidly asked them to please clean up the
> proerty line leaves that fall to my property below
> theirs and needless to say, they blew me off. And
> that does not even count me risking life and limb
> getting them out of my gutters to stop my basement
> flooding. I can't afford to pay for the work until
> I absolutely can no longer do it, as I and my
> disabled veteran are retired. So every fall, I
> spend weeks on pain meds for my back and hips. My
> comfort is the thought that in the hereafter what
> goes around comes around.

1. You spent what portion of 6-8 weeks raking leaves? Were you out there weekly? If so you do not need to do that. Your lawn will not be harmed by a couple weeks worth of coverage. Oak leaves are acidic. You need to test your soil and add the correct amount of lime once or twice a year.

2. If they are in your yard they are 'your' leaves not your neighbors. When snow blows from the West onto your sidewalk do you ask your neighbor to the West to shovel your walks?

3. Your neighbors 'blew you off' after you asked them to rake your yard because it was more kind and polite then telling you that you are nuts.

4. If you are older and cannot afford to get help removing the leaves from a pro you might call the local high school and see if they have work programs for kids to do it on the cheap. You approach some of your neighbors with teen kids and offer work to them. You could call a boyscout troop and offer a donation if they do community service by helping you clear your lawn. You could naturalize your yard and allow a natural mulching process. Do some research and you could end up never having to mow or rake again. Go to a local church an ask if any member's kids want some work.

Please take care of yourself and dont get hurt trying to care for a lawn that in all likelyhood you over fertilize and use pesticides on...

All you lazy jerks who don't want to rake my perfect lawn can go fuck off! I tried being nice about it, but you didn't listen. Now I'm angry and will consult a lawyer about suing all of you whose leaves blow into my paradise!

I did not post the above. Whoever you are using my name and cursing in my name please stop. You are getting off on trying to bait an old lady. Why? I was naive about using my name and discussing a problem. I will never post here again as this cite is obviously for cyber bullies. I never asked anyone to rake my yard or shovel my walks. If you read my other posts I said I do my neighbors raking for them along the property boundaries. I apologized for a comment that struck a nerve. And I snow blow for neighbors snowed in who don't have machines. I don't over fertilize or over water. I am too good a gardener to do either. So goodbye.

Mary Curtiss Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I did not post the above. Whoever you are using my
> name and cursing in my name please stop. You are
> getting off on trying to bait an old lady. Why? I
> was naive about using my name and discussing a
> problem. I will never post here again as this cite
> is obviously for cyber bullies. I never asked
> anyone to rake my yard or shovel my walks. If you
> read my other posts I said I do my neighbors
> raking for them along the property boundaries. I
> apologized for a comment that struck a nerve. And
> I snow blow for neighbors snowed in who don't have
> machines. I don't over fertilize or over water. I
> am too good a gardener to do either. So goodbye.

Mary, I am sorry so many a-holes here piled on you. You sound like a long-time resident and a person who is actually knowledgable about maintaining yards in suburbia. And you probably have a pretty yard and a house that is a pleasure to drive or walk by. Meanwhile immigrants and new residents are buying houses in the older neighborhoods and removing the mature trees and even the azaleas around the houses. You drive past and see all these houses just sitting there like a dog turd on the grass. No pride of ownership, no charm.

Raking leaves used to be a family activity. Everyone would go out and grab a rake and as you know, many hands make short work. And for us kids, when we were little, what a joy to jump onto those leaf piles! Ah, the smell of autumn. It was kinda nice to burn those leaf piles, too, wouldn't want to bring that back but it's a fine memory.

Anyway, I am sorry that you experienced such nastiness here.

Thank you Brenda so very much. I was very upset with humanity, or the lack thereof, as I don't have social media accounts for a reason. So the venom here was a depressing revelation to an older gal. I won't be posting again. I don't need hurt feelings from cruel cyber space people. I just checked one more time because I asked the FX Underground moderator to remove my posts or remove the entire thread. No such luck.

But your response was so kind and restored a little hope that I should try not to give up on people altogether. I am a mid-westerner who has struggled to adapt to the harried lifestyle of Northern VA. My now disabled Navy hubby brought us here on duty in 1992 and here we stayed after his 20 years of military service ended in the civilian national defense pond for another 15 years. I am more than ready to be moving to a place with fewer trees or just someplace where all raking is someone else's bachache. Because Lord knows I have cleaned up my share and then some of His leaf harvests. I actually love trees except in Autumn when they kick my rear.

On the bright side, the end of raking season is in sight. Two more weeks, I'd say and the leaves are all down except for those stubborn Pin Oaks that fling dead brown missiles at us until Spring when new leaves push off the old ones to finish the process of abscisson (leaf drop). The whole process is late this year on all the deciduous trees because we got such a late start to the growing season as a consequence of the polar winter of 2014. And you are right, I am an experienced suburban Master Gardener with a pretty house and a gorgeous yard.

Good Life and Happiness to you Brenda.
Mary

There are lots of purely selfish reasons to rake your yard:

You rake because you want grass to grow in your yard in the spring. You rake because when it snows you don't want leaves in your snowman. You rake because you don't want creepy critters taking up residence under those leaves in your yard. You rake because it's good exercise in the fresh air and leaf piles are fun to jump in.

Last year I actually saw a person (jerk) using a leaf blower to shamelessly blow the leaves from his own yard straight into his neighbor's yard while his neighbor was at work. Nice.

Brenda, I do a little carpet munching on the side. My husband can't get it up anymore so I need to get it where I can find if you know what I mean. You game?

you rake, I rake Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> There are lots of purely selfish reasons to rake
> your yard:
>
> You rake because you want grass to grow in your
> yard in the spring. You rake because when it
> snows you don't want leaves in your snowman. You
> rake because you don't want creepy critters taking
> up residence under those leaves in your yard. You
> rake because it's good exercise in the fresh air
> and leaf piles are fun to jump in.
>
> Last year I actually saw a person (jerk) using a
> leaf blower to shamelessly blow the leaves from
> his own yard straight into his neighbor's yard
> while his neighbor was at work. Nice.

Must have been a Foust supporter. And probably lives in Vienna. Figures.

Mary Cuntiss Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Brenda, I do a little carpet munching on the side.
> My husband can't get it up anymore so I need to
> get it where I can find if you know what I mean.
> You game?

Thought you'd never ask. I myself hate men and would just as soon have them all neutered. We gals gotta stick together, and I have a double-ended toy that will help us do that!

I'm sorry for my earlier post. My Daddy caught me and told me I better apologize if I knew what was good for me. So there.

You lazy fu@king a$$hole. That is not fair to your neighbors. Guess what Chuckie, I work 50 hours a week and still find time to do yard work. Shame on you!

I've read it's actually better for the lawn soil and the lawn if you leave the leaves where they are. Neighbors get pissed over the dumbest things ... people want to have the right not to see something like leaves .. they think their world is one big Utopia. Of course it looks nicer to rake them, but this world is also temporary as is life here.
Despite that, I do rake leaves, except for a portion of the yard which gets routinely flooded, so I leave leaves there to naturally resoil. I have a good reason to leave that part of the yard alone, depite what neighbors may think.

We have wide grass strips along our streets and sidewalks, so when the leaves pile up, the ground gets soaked and muddy and the grass dies. It becomes a huge mess, so it does get unsightly and sometimes so slick it's dangerous. Take an hour a week to help out your lawn and your neighbors.

You lazy piece of shit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Neighbours should blow all the leaves onto yourlawn and place a ugly snow fence up when they are done!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (for 12 years)
Maybe peolpe will know the lazy fucking shits that roam this earth.

What is wrong with you?????????

Let me guess...WORTHLESS!!! Lazy Fucks of the world!!!!!!!

Why do you remain around????????

Can you imangine if the entire world thinks like you???

I bet you litter...can you see what the world would look like we all think like you.

Swimming in garbage...I can see that this will make you happy!!!!!

Can't believe that people like you exist in life!!!!!!!!!!!

Your parents has done you wrong in many since of life...get help for them and yourself. Shame on them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sadden with the individuals that walk this life:(

Clean up your leaves. If you don't and they blow into my yard, you won't like what happens next.

all you mulch in place haters of the earth !

you are supposed to bag up the leaves so that the county can deliver them to the landfill, where they are then cut up....

then you can drive to the county and bag up the mulched leaves and drive them back home...

if you have the ability to include government in every day life...do so...the bigger the government intervention the better...

what kind of never do well deplorable are you to not give the government the ability to help you ?

If you don't rake the dead leaves will kill your grass. Then you will have nothing but mud in your front yard. The mud will wash onto your leaf covered walkways and you'll be tracking in mud, dead leaves and "debris" into your house which would bother most people. Do you also refuse to vacuum, mop and pick up inside your house? If so, maybe you want notice the leaves and mud that you track in.

We're all different.

no other way Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> If you don't rake the dead leaves will kill your
> grass. Then you will have nothing but mud in your
> front yard. The mud will wash onto your leaf
> covered walkways and you'll be tracking in mud,
> dead leaves and "debris" into your house which
> would bother most people. Do you also refuse to
> vacuum, mop and pick up inside your house? If so,
> maybe you want notice the leaves and mud that you
> track in.
>
> We're all different.

The wind will blow most of the leaves away over the course of the winter. In early spring go out and mow the lawn to mulch up any remaining dead leaves. The grass will benefit from added nutrients from the decomposed leaves and be healthier.

Don't rake Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> no other way Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > If you don't rake the dead leaves will kill
> your
> > grass. Then you will have nothing but mud in
> your
> > front yard. The mud will wash onto your leaf
> > covered walkways and you'll be tracking in mud,
> > dead leaves and "debris" into your house which
> > would bother most people. Do you also refuse
> to
> > vacuum, mop and pick up inside your house? If
> so,
> > maybe you want notice the leaves and mud that
> you
> > track in.
> >
> > We're all different.
>
> The wind will blow most of the leaves away over
> the course of the winter. In early spring go out
> and mow the lawn to mulch up any remaining dead
> leaves. The grass will benefit from added
> nutrients from the decomposed leaves and be
> healthier.

Some leaves might blow away, most won't. Your lawn will die and if you mulch the leaves in the spring you will have chopped up moldy leaves mixed with mud. That sloppy concoction will soon be all over your living room, dining room, kitchen. If that's what you like, don't rake. If you would prefer to avoid that mess - pick up the leaves.

bird lady Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Don't rake Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > no other way Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> > > If you don't rake the dead leaves will kill
> > your
> > > grass. Then you will have nothing but mud in
> > your
> > > front yard. The mud will wash onto your leaf
> > > covered walkways and you'll be tracking in
> mud,
> > > dead leaves and "debris" into your house
> which
> > > would bother most people. Do you also refuse
> > to
> > > vacuum, mop and pick up inside your house?
> If
> > so,
> > > maybe you want notice the leaves and mud that
> > you
> > > track in.
> > >
> > > We're all different.
> >
> > The wind will blow most of the leaves away over
> > the course of the winter. In early spring go
> out
> > and mow the lawn to mulch up any remaining dead
> > leaves. The grass will benefit from added
> > nutrients from the decomposed leaves and be
> > healthier.
>
> Some leaves might blow away, most won't. Your
> lawn will die and if you mulch the leaves in the
> spring you will have chopped up moldy leaves mixed
> with mud. That sloppy concoction will soon be all
> over your living room, dining room, kitchen. If
> that's what you like, don't rake. If you would
> prefer to avoid that mess - pick up the leaves.

Well the percentage of leaves that will blow away obviously depends on your local topography. The leaves won't hurt the dormant grass laying there for a couple months. If you wait until early spring you will have less to deal with and at that time also take care of any latecomers. From all your concern about mud it sounds like you may have some underlying drainage or landscaping issues.

I typically rake them into a pile and wait until Halloween night and light it on fire. I keep it contained. It smokes like a motherfucker, so I don't have any booger eaters coming to my door! Fuck giving out candy for Halloween!