Raking Leaves

by B. Dear

If your house is anything like mine, cleaning up leaves around your property can be a real pain in the neck. I have found a few things that can be done with leaves to turn this annoyance into a plus. 

There are a few different ways to deal with leaves:

• You can bag them and throw them away
• you can blow them into an unseen area so they can decompose naturally
• you can burn them, or
• you can compost them

Here is an easy way to bag them. Rake the leaves into a pile. Put a bag on the ground next to the leaves with the open end facing the pile. Stand on the inside edge of the open bag with your feet and hold it open with one hand. You will now be holding the bag open with your feet and one hand. Use your other hand to push leaves into the bag with your rake or hand. This is the best way I know of to fill bags when you are alone. If you have a buddy with you, you can fill bags with one person holding the bag open and the other person filling it.

The easiest way to move the leaves is with a leaf blower. I usually blow the leaves out into the woods or another area where I don’t mind them. The leaf blower isn’t very useful when you want to bag the leaves since they tend to go all over the place.

Burning leaves works, but can be dangerous since there is a risk of the fire getting out of control. Use a large metal can on cinder blocks and shovel the leaves into it to burn them. This will minimize the chances of the fire getting out of control.

Composting leaves recycles the leaves for reuse in a garden to help plants grow. Mix the leaves with soil, hay, garbage peelings, coffee grinds or other vegetable matter that will help create good soil for planting. Build these waste items in layers on the compost pile allowing enough air into the pile to let everything decompose properly. When it breaks down, it will make nutrient rich soil that you can shovel back into your pots or garden as a fertilizer.