by Patrick Sills

Created on: October 07, 2010

As the season of summer draws to a close, the air temperature begins to drop. At first, it can be so slow that it goes unnoticed. But all the while, a spectacle unfolds before our eyes as the leaves on virtually every kind of tree transform from their summer shade of deep green to brilliant shades of red, yellow, and orange. Indeed, this fiery combination of colors renders a beautiful sight for a few weeks and oftentimes serves as a backdrop for photographers and admirers of nature as well.

But with this natural beauty comes a sobering reality: The leaves on these majestic plants are quite literally dying. All one needs to do to confirm this is to feel how crisp and crumbly they have become. Like many species of short-lived insects, leaves spawn in the springtime and die by autumn. And once this happens, they of course fall off the trees. And guess where they land? All over our yards, that‘s where!

So people rake. And rake. And rake some more in an effort to keep their plots of land clear of this nuisance. Typically, our neighbors can be seen raking these fallen leaves into numerous piles. Then, each pile is painstakingly stuffed into a plastic bag, tied up, and placed on the curb for collection. Some people even use bags that look like pumpkins!

Others will rake in the aforementioned manner and depending on their city ordinances and/or ability to obtain a permit, simply burn their fallen leaves. Perhaps the biggest irony of this is how people who smoke are banned from doing so in public, yet when just one person burns his or her leaves for a few hours, this will put more smoke into the air than what several hundreds of smokers could produce in their entire lifetimes!

And still others will likewise make piles, and if there happens to be a wooded area close by, they will simply use a power blower to move the leaves out of the yard.

So here is my tip for raking leaves in the fall: Don’t rake! Why spend hours of back-breaking work raking leaves when a sudden wind could come along and spread them right back into the yard? And for that matter, I’ve never understood why people bother to rake until all of the leaves have fallen off the tress that are in their yards in the first place! By not waiting, you may have a nice, clear yard for perhaps 24 hours, but then, more leaves will fall and then your yard will look just as it did before you raked! This is akin to repeatedly drying off your floor after rain leaks through a hole in your roof and not bothering to patch it up!

Instead, do as I do. Chop up the leaves as you mow the lawn. Simply adjust the blade to its lowest setting. If you do this, those leaves will be cut up so fine that you’ll need a magnifying glass to detect their presence. Thus, using an attached bag you have to dump every five minutes becomes unnecessary. Even in cold northern climates, chances are good that your grass will still be growing through around November, so you’d be doing regular mowing, anyway, right? However, one must remember that the object is to get all the leaves removed before that first snowfall. In the unlikely event this occurs before all of the leaves have stopped falling, you’ll have a mess on your hands next spring, regardless of how many times you have raked prior to this. Otherwise, when that last leaf falls and your trees are completely bare, run that lawn mower.

If you are like me, manual labor is something you do not enjoy. By raking leaves into piles in the traditional manner and then bagging them, burning them, or blowing them away, people are making the job far harder than it has to be. One shot with a good lawn mower, and the task is complete.

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