An abundance of leaves
In the early morning light, the bags of leaves looked like an odd sculptural arrangement. We've been snagging bags to cover the hardwood mulch with a thick leaf blanket, and these were from a neighbor's evening efforts.
The city is full of fallen leaves: oak, maple, beech, and others.
A beautiful fall weekend provided a great opportunity for folks to start moving leaves to the curb or bagging them up to go to the city leaf pile. Thankfully, rakes are the tool of choice in small yards, so the afternoon had been free of the noise of the leaf blowers that mar fall weekends in rural and suburban areas.
We've picked up at least 25 bags by now, and my gardening companion is out hunting for more -- we've got plenty of space to put them so it's like getting bags of organic treasure.
The city is full of fallen leaves: oak, maple, beech, and others.A beautiful fall weekend provided a great opportunity for folks to start moving leaves to the curb or bagging them up to go to the city leaf pile. Thankfully, rakes are the tool of choice in small yards, so the afternoon had been free of the noise of the leaf blowers that mar fall weekends in rural and suburban areas.
We've picked up at least 25 bags by now, and my gardening companion is out hunting for more -- we've got plenty of space to put them so it's like getting bags of organic treasure.
al ver estas himagees me transportan con la imaginacion a ver cuan hermosa es la naturaleza y darnos cuenta como nosotros la estamos destruyedo por lo que debemos hacer conciencia para pambiar nuestros habitos de vida y cuidar la belleza natural
ReplyDeleteal ver estas imagenes me transportan con la imaginacion y para darnos cuenta cuan maravillosa es la naturaleza y ver como nosotros la estamos destruyendo sin que no hagamos nada por conservar por lño que deberiamos combiar todos y buscar hacer conciencia para conservar ese mundo maravilloso de la naturalez
ReplyDeleteThank you! I cannot stand leaf blowers! Even in this village of incredibly small lots there are leaf blowers - it would take less time to rake! I have been tempted to walk over and offer to rake them up myself for some peace and quiet. I have also been tempted to pick up some bags of those leaves ...
ReplyDeleteDo you let them decompose before putting them into the gardens?
ReplyDeleteRVR-
ReplyDeleteI welcome your comments about appreciating nature and its gifts (my basic grasp of Spanish aside). We loved visiting your country a few years ago (from north to south in the Central Highlands).
Violet Fern- goodness, aren't leaf blowers evil? I hate them too, and now back in Clemson, there's a consistent background hum, even on a beautiful Sunday afternoon.
Nancy- I was delighted with how the very early morning photo turned out -- the color was so vivid. We're grateful to have two wonderful places now to enjoy (this view is from our small house in the mountains).
Janet- we're just spreading the leaves directly since they'll decompose quickly, and it's really basically acting as mulch. We figure that they'll help improve the heavy soil below the house! And it's easier for Mocha to walk on, too.
At the Garden, the leaves are more chopped up (they've gone through the vacuum truck), but we still use them both fresh and composted, and till them in to prepare new beds.
We hand rake the leaves, hate hearing the blowers a mile away. Such a beautiful day here in NC. We'd have filled those bags with acorns alone. Into the woods with the leaves.
ReplyDeleteRandy,
ReplyDeleteYou're so right - it's no fun hearing blowers from far away. I was vaguely hopeful that maybe leaf blowers were banned in Asheville, but haven't been able to find any suggestion of that.
And the acorn production HAS been amazing this year. White oak acorns are everywhere.
Lisa
Yes, leaf mulch. Another way to go about this is by using them as layers in sheet mulch beds. It is wise to set up your sheet mulch beds in autumn and let the winter weather work on them for spring planting.
ReplyDeleteThe comments about leaf blowers seem odd to me.
ReplyDeleteHere in Colorado, I only see leaf blowers occasionally by ground maintenance on the outsides of some communities, but almost never by homeowners.
I've never really understood the use of leaf blowers for home use.
Mike-
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad that our comments about leaf blowers don't resonate with you in Colorado. You're quite fortunate.
Here in South Carolina, they're practically a constant buzz on fall weekends as homeowners blow leaves to the curb for pickup.
And they're used for minor 'clean-up' of leaf and grass debris all year long. And because of how loud they are, it only takes one at a time to make a racket.
All of the home lawn service folks use them, so they create plenty of noise in suburban neighborhoods, aside from just homeowners/home gardeners.
Lisa
I too have a problem with leaves. Many of our UK bloggers and readers fill the internet with ways to solve the mess. Nothing works as well as a rake does. Great gardening blog by the way.
ReplyDelete