Autumn leaves are beautiful with their jeweled tones of red and gold. It is a breath-taking experience to watch them drift to the ground on crisp, sunny Fall days

The beauty is short-lived, however, as all too soon the surface of your yard is covered with crusty, dried-up brown leaf debris that must be raked up and discarded before the arrival of winter snows.

Supplies needed for raking fall leaves:

* Wide metal, bamboo or plastic rake (metal is recommended)

* Heavy work gloves

* Sturdy shoes that you don't mind getting dirty

* Large trash can (40+ gallon)

* Large trash bags (40+ gallon size)

* Leaf blower or sturdy broom

Tips for raking leaves:

- Choose a calm day when the blowing wind will not impede your efforts.

- Blow or sweep all the leaves off porches, decks and walkways onto the grassy area with the bulk of the leaves to be raked.

- Blow all the leaves from borders, rock areas and gardens onto the main area of the lawn you are preparing to rake

.- If you don't have a leaf blower, a broom will remove the leaves from borders. Using the rake could potentially damage blooming perennials.

- Insert a large trash bag into the trash can with the top overlapping. Wheel the can in close proximity to the area where you are going to begin raking.

- Rake the leaves in short strokes, working across the expanse of the yard. Continue raking in short rows back and forth until you have a good accumulation of leaves in one long pile. Wheel the trash can along the row, picking up scoops of leaves and depositing them directly into the trash can.

- Continue raking in rows across the yard and disposing of the raked leaves as you progress. Not only will you easily see the results of your efforts, and how much further you have to go, but if a wind stirs up, your already-raked leaves are secured in the trash can and will not be blown around again.

- When the trash bag is full, replace with another. Schedule breaks for right after you have scooped sections of leaves into the trash can, again keeping in mind the wind factor.

- If you do not have a large trash can on wheels, enlist the help of other family members to hold the trash bags opened while you scoop the leaves into them. If you are fortunate to have a helper with raking, each of you can start at opposite ends of the yard and work toward the middle.

Raking leaves is good healthy exercise, and can also be fun.

Some clever homeowners use orange trash bags with Jack-O- Lantern faces printed on them. The filled bags become Halloween decorations. Huge faux pumpkins remain in the yard to greet trick-or-treaters, and are disposed of after the holiday.

Raked leaves can also be used for stuffing a Halloween scarecrow.

Of course, the most fun of all is to rake leaves into a mountain and allow the children to romp and play in them. This is best allowed "before" the raking in earnest begins.

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Learn more about this author, Carol Gioia.
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