My neighbor was right about leaf blowers during fall cleanup

Last October, my neighbor Dave kept telling me to wait until all the leaves were down before I started blowing them off my lawn on Madison Ave. I figured I'd get ahead of it and did a full cleanup in mid-October. By November, I had to do it all over again because the oaks and maples dropped twice as many leaves. Dave was spot on - waiting until after the first hard frost in early November saved him about 4 hours of work compared to my two rounds. Has anyone else found a good cutoff date for when to start fall leaf cleanup in the Westshore area?

2 comments

2 Comments

paige_harris24d ago

Is it bad that I just let the leaves pile up until the snow covers them and then pretend my lawn is just "winter ready"? I feel like Dave would probably have a heart attack watching me from his window, shuffling through ankle-deep oak leaves just to get my mail. My cutoff date is basically whenever my HOA sends that passive-aggressive letter about "unsightly yard conditions" which usually hits around mid-November.

william32024d ago

Playing the long game with mulching changed everything for me. I run the mower over them a few times with the bag off and let nature break it all down over winter. The soil in my yard has never been better and I save probably 12 bucks a bag on fertilizer each spring. Dave might clutch his pearls watching leaves sit there but the soil microbes eat that stuff up. Only real catch is you gotta make sure you aren't burying the grass completely or you'll get bare spots come spring. I've been doing it five years now and my neighbors who blow religiously have way more bare dirt patches than I do.