We live in the woods, with only a little grass right around the house. No beds to speak of, so I blow them into the woods. I lovingly refer to our entire property as "natural area."

PKponder TX Z7B, that's awesome. I have a small lot, and my lawn mowers blow whatever leaves I have out to the curb for pickup (we don't bag).

My only mature tree is a Virginia Cedar (an evergreen) so I'm one of the people asking neighbors for their leaves. We have 50x30 area at the back of our yard that we've converted from boring lawn, to native plants. I spread as many leaves there as I can get.

Our town has a sucker truck that goes around picking up leaves people have racked to the curb. I don't know what they do with them.

We use a bagging mower and dump the leaves in the wooded acreage.

I hate the mess, I rake and burn

We mulch mow ours in place. Those little bits are excellent for soil structure as well as for the macro and microorganisms in the soil and I wouldn't dream of removing them.

My neighbor rakes and bags her leaves and tosses them over the fence to me. I grind them up to mulch my veggie garden....I share the garden rewards with her. :-)

The annual collection of fall leaves is something of a ritual for many. I grew up learning how to rake leaves into a big pile, then scatter them all over again with my brothers.

I have a pond, so I rake up the bulk of the leaves to prevent them from blowing in there and causing algae problems. I dump them in the woods and mow over anything left.

We have a lot of land so have a large pit up the back to put them. Once a year, a buddy comes by with his backhoe to push the leaf pile back and make room for more. He also pushes back the branch pile we make each year. We typically do about 40 pick up truckloads of leaves each year off the property. Our town has no leaf pick up at all.

Cool post!

A conversation in heaven between God and St. Francis.

God:
St. Francis, you know all about gardens and nature. What in the
world is going on down there in the USA? What happened to the dandelions,
violets,thistle and stuff I started eons ago? I had a perfect,
no-maintenance garden-plan. Those plants grow in any type of soil,
withstand drought and multiply with abandon. The nectar from the
long-lasting blossoms attracts butterflies, honeybees and flocks of
songbirds. I expected to see a vast garden of colors by now. But all I
see are these green rectangles.

St. Francis: It's the
tribes that settled there, Lord. The Suburbanites.They started calling
your flowers "weeds" and went to great lengths to kill them and replace
them with grass.

God: Grass? But it's so boring. It's not
colorful. It doesn't attract butterflies, birds and bees, only grubs and
sod worms. It's temperamental with temperatures. Do these Suburbanites
really want all that grass growing there?

St. Francis: Apparently so, Lord. They go to great pains to
grow it and keep it green. They begin each fertilizing grass and
poisoning any other plant that crops up in the lawn.

God: The spring rains and warm weather probably make grass grow really fast. That must make the Suburbanites happy.

St. Francis: Apparently not, Lord. As soon as it grows a little, they cut it, sometimes twice a week.

God: They cut it? Do they then bale it like hay?

St. Francis: Not exactly Lord. Most of them rake it up and put it in bags.

God: They bag it? Why? Is it a cash crop? Do they sell it?

St. Francis: No, sir -- just the opposite. They pay to throw it away.

God:
Now, let me get this straight. They fertilize grass so it will grow. And
when it does grow, they cut it off and pay to throw it away?

St. Francis: Yes, sir.

God:
These Suburbanites must be relieved in the summer when we cut back
on the rain and turn up the heat. That surely slows the growth and saves
them a lot of work.

St. Francis: You aren't going to believe this, Lord. When the
grass stops growing so fast, they drag out hoses and pay more money to
water it so they can continue to mow it and pay to get rid of it.

God:
What nonsense. At least they kept some of the trees. That was a
sheer stroke of genius, if I do say so myself. The trees grow leaves in
the spring to provide beauty and shade in the summer. In the autumn they
fall to the ground and form a natural blanket to keep moisture in the
soil and protect the trees and bushes. Plus, as they rot, the leaves form
compost to enhance the soil. It's a natural circle of life.

St. Francis:
You'd better sit down, Lord. The Suburbanites have drawn a new circle.
As soon as the leaves fall, they rake them into great piles and pay to
have them hauled away.

God: No. What do they do to protect the shrub and tree roots in the winter and to keep the soil moist and loose?

St. Francis:
After throwing away the leaves, they go out and buy something which they
call mulch. They haul it home and spread it around in place of the
leaves.

God: And where do they get this mulch?

St. Francis: They cut down trees and grind them up to make the mulch.

God:
Enough! I don't want to think about this anymore. St. Catherine,
you're in charge of the arts. What movie have you scheduled for us
tonight?

St. Catherine: "Dumb and Dumber," Lord. It's a real stupid movie about...

God: Never mind, I think I just heard the whole story from St. Francis.
Read more at http://www.beliefnet.com/inspiration/2004/04/did-god-create-lawns.aspx#8pBY3cizTUbDJb5Y.99

Moni, I've always loved that!

Dh mulch mows. We use them in flower beds and in the compost pile.

Ours go into the flower beds. Insulates & feeds my plants over the winter.

nicholsworth, now I see the trees!

We live in a neighborhood or I would just pile them up and leave them. They blow around less once they are mulch mowed.

PK..we mow over our bits of grass and the paths in the back..but we have so many leaves we need to rake too..and we end up with big piles..chipping reduces the volume tremendously and they break down faster..we also leave them where we can..we're raking about half (?) of our property..

I took a beat this year and gave some thought to using our leaves (3 live oaks + 2 large crepe myrtles + 1 red oak) as top dressing for our flower beds. I combed through the soil/compost/mulch forum and happened upon Mike McGrath's terrific (humorous, informative) TED talk. The lightbulb went on for me: why are we throwing out all those bags of leaves every spring AND paying someone far too much money to lay down shredded hardwood mulch?! (DH and I did this ourselves for years, but we decided a few years ago that we would 'splurge' and pay someone to do it.)

Just last week, our new WORX leaf mulcher/shredder arrived, and it's been put to work! I'm having a ridiculous amount of fun gathering and shredding leaves, and plopping them onto the beds!

A couple of problems around here, though: 1) Our oaks don't drop the majority of their leaves until springtime, so it won't be until the following fall that our beds/soil will actually reap the nutritional benefits of leaf mold -- but I'm sure the earthworms will come in droves, so that's great; 2) Our HOA forbids the use of shredded leaves as mulch in the front yard (our neighbor tried and received the dreaded non-compliance letter). Our front beds are smaller than the back anyway; so, DH and I will go back to manually dressing the front w/ purchased mulch (not before I sneak some leaves onto the soil, first!), and we can go to town with using mulched leaves for the back. I just need to get into the rhythm/habit of stalking our neighborhood curbsides for bagged leaves BEFORE the waste disposal crew makes its rounds.

Thanks javiwa! I hauled neighbors leaf bags in to my back yard on Tuesday, garbage day. ;)

Moni

We have bi-weekly yard waste pick-up, the city also comes around and picks up the leaves with a front-end loader and dump truck. There are also drop-off locations where you can take bagged leaves and dump them leaves out, or load up a pick-up truck and empty the loose leaves.

We have maple trees on the property, and we rake and bag, or rake to the curb when we know the truck and tractor are coming. They only come once.

There is a Master Gardener who will happily pick up neighbours' bagged leaves for his compost heaps.

We live in the woods and are surrounded by pine, fir and oak trees. Around our house is a fire break consisting of gravel. I used to have flower beds but have given those up in surrender to the deer. The leaves that fall off of the oaks get blown out into the woods as we don't want the gravel covered in wet slimy leaves.

We live on acreage, but purposely don’t have too many large trees real close to the house. We still have plenty of leaves on the areas we mow, so DH mows them with the mulching mower. I also collect some for my compost pile.

I'm just wondering...the leaves that end up in the landfill, won't they decompose and break down, hence helping the rest of the stuff break down too?

Pudgeder, they will eventually break down, once their plastic bag decomposes.

I'm not promoting putting them in the landfill. But some organic matter has to go in to the landfills to help break down the other crap that's in there.

Moni, I loved that. My thoughts exactly.

I live in a 1948 subdivision - small lots. I have three very large oak trees in my yard so I have a ton of leaves. I also have extensive mixed borders, both front and back, so they, too, must be cleared of leaves. Oak leaves do not decompose quickly - think years, not months. If whole, they just pack down and can suffocate the roots of grass, plants and even trees. I do use the mulch setting on my lawnmower (with bag attached) and mow the leaves when they fall on the grass and then dump the bag on the composite pile, but this does not begin to take care of the majority of leaves. My yard man blows them and bags them in paper leaf bags - plastic bags for leaves have been banned in my area now for a couple of years.

I have a compost pile that is about 5-8 ft and about 3-4 ft deep. All grass clippings go on it, and the leaves mulched by the mower. I usually have my yardman add a couple of bags of leaves at the end of leaf season, and then I top that off with 2-3 bags of composted manure to make the compost pile "warm" during the winter and help with the plant material breaking down. In the spring, I have my yardman dig out the "good stuff" from the bottom and use it to top dress the borders and to enrich the soil if I'm planting anything new.

I don't add kitchen waste to my compost pile. I have very little, and in the past, it drew rats to our neighborhood when a former neighbor did this - our small city (more like a HOA) told him to stop and he did. No one needs rats!

I think people must do what is best for them, and what the law requires in their area. If burning were allowed, I'd gladly do so, but it has been banned for decades.

I compost everything I can and have been known to rake leaves from our neighbors to add to my compost bin.

My garden loves it.

We have over an acre with mature trees. We are still using our riding mower cut up and mulch the leaves from our yard and our neighbors. Mostly we just run the leaves over and cut them but there are plenty of leaves to bag and use as mulch to overwinter the blueberries, kale, herbs and green onions. It's just efficient for us.

I must admit, it took quite some energy to get up enough nerve to take my neighbors' bagged leaves. I even started off by knocking at one person's door so I could ask permission. Her dogs barked and barked, and neighbor -- whom I know was home -- didn't come to the door. Well, I tried!

My first haul:

It was easier after the first, awkward bag. :)

pudgeder: I have no facts to back this up, but I'm sure there are enough kitchen scraps and yard waste in our landfills now to provide plenty of organic matter to get the breakdown process going. For us, it was more a matter of improving the health of our soil with resources we already have at our disposal, while saving some money in the process.

Our yard-waste that the city picks up and leaf drop-off locations throughout the city are all used for compost. The city composts yard waste and green bin scraps and in turn gives it out free to residents. We can go and take as much as we want in pails, pick-up trucks, etc.

Yay, javiwa!

I mow them several times in the fall and leftovers are mowed in the spring. I don't have a mulching mower so I just mow them several times. The other day when I was mowing them again it was down to almost a powder. Wonderful fertilizer. And in the fall I cut my grass short so neighbors' leaves blow through and don't stop too often. I'm glad I don't have oak trees. I'd take them down if I had any in my "yard proper" area. Can't stand the acorns and those plastic-like leaves.

Yardman blows and picks up the acorns when they fall. Otherwise, my dog thinks they are for her pleasure. A few won't harm her, but a lot could. I want them gone, so each week, they are. The squirrels also get a LOT of them, especially in the front yard with two big oak trees. I find divots all over my grass when they are dug back up!

Since we have a separate yard waste pick-up from our household waste or re-cycling pickup, I assume they go to compost somewhere. Waste Management does our pick-ups - different day, different truck.

We live in the woods and are surrounded by hardwoods. We rake the leaves away from the foundation and dump them into the brush piles we build for small animals. We blow them off the drive and down the hill a bit. The wind returns them, rinse repeat. LOL I put some in the compost pile and the rest are left to be mowed over in the spring.

I try to leave as many on the grass as I can to keep the moisture in the ground over winter and it's also said to help all the little critters over the winter too. Lady Bugs especially. I don't remove any from the hedges all year long, it keeps the moisture in the ground and works as a 'compost'. It eventually breaks down. What little we do rake up, we put in the compost bin (we have a small one of our own and a HUGE one the city gave us for weekly pick up).

Composting with leaves is fine, but remember it does increase the acidity of the soil, so you may need to offset with lime.

Be sure you know what PH your soil is before you add lime. Herein North Central Texas, we have alkaline black gumbo clay. We'll take all the acid we can get, lol!

Actually, leaf mulch does not acidify the soil, though it remains a commonly believed horticultural myth. Neither does pine straw nor coffee grounds. Lime should only be added if the results of a professional soil test indicates that there's a problem. An unwarranted application can throw off a healthy soil balance for a couple of years or more.

Some native soils are naturally very acid or alkaline, depending on the rock and mineral deposits in the area but fall leaf mulch has no effect at all. Soil testing can lead us in the right direction.

Chopped leaves will break down faster, feeding the the essential soil microorganisms and giving the earthworms something to do and eat. I worry that a heavy layer of whole leaves will form a slick mat at the soil surface, preventing water penetration and gas exchange.

Little bit off-topic but kinda sorta not. Late last night the dogs across the alley were barking their heads off. Put on my slippers, got my flashlight, turned on the porch light, walked around, couldn't find anything obvious. No strange cars, no pedestrians walking the street, nothing. Shined the flashlight around...& there he was...the world's fattest armadillo was digging in the leaf-rich flower bed at my back fence! ( I *had* wondered about some mysterious holes!)

Hahaha, I'll bet you scared the heck out of him!

Last year, I had to hire a wildlife control guy to trap an armadillo that was hanging out under our shed and digging up our yard and gardens. He ended up trapping three!!!

They can be so destructive.

Leaving whole oak leaves on the grass is not good for the grass at all. It can suffocate the roots. If you have a mulching mower, you can mow them and leave the mulch in place...depending on how many leaves one has. Better to bag it and then spread it evenly in a find layer.

Anglo, it's not only the oak leaves that can cause a problem on the lawn. :-)

Here in southern California, you can't burn leaves. In fact, we have an advisory now not to have a fire in the fireplace because of the inversion layer, which may have expired by now. We have covered trans cans for all garden waste, and the hauler composts it. The compost is used in public properties and on the various park trails in the state.

I have piled all the leaves I think I should on my flower beds. My trusty lawn mower died last week so I can’t mow them, so I’ve been raking and burning. However, gale-force winds today so no burning.

I raked and filled my BIG trash cans with leaves, loaded them on the golf cart, and drove them to the golf course adjacent to my yard to dump down in their ravines. On my LAST trip, I got about 100 yards onto the course, lost my grip on a full trash can, and dropped it. The gale-force winds, of course, immediately started blowing the leaves back toward my yard!! Augh!!!!

I have 4 compost piles , 2 closed 2 open. I just rake them up into an old container and throw them in. I am fortunate that most of them are thin willow oak leaves, The rest I leave on the lawn. I must have someone blow them off the roof soon and driveway. I hate how they blow the leaves onto shrubs but must tell them how deal with it this year. I have been sweeping and blowing leaves off the deck for months. It's an ongoing project. My driveway and lawns are smothered. I don't care.

I don't think leaves change the soil pH, either. I no longer do that kind of testing, but I throw a deep blanket of autumn leaves on my vegetable garden every year (plus just a little bit of grass clippings, and our small amount of kitchen scrap compost), and I keep taking a bounty of vegetables every year. I've gardened this spot 25 years and it's still producing healthily. If the soil were getting askew, I think I could see it in the leaves and their fruits. For my style of gardening, I think leaves are pretty close to miraculous.

No trees in my yard, but I use what arrives on the wind, and then around 40 paper bags full that I pick up around the neighborhood. This year I got 61 bags from a neighbor who lives across from a park.

We leave the matter to God! LOL We live in the middle of an oak forest; we have asked the leaves to stay on the trees year-round, but they don't listen. So now that we are old, God takes care of them--He blows them where he wants them, and we let them lie there until He dissolves them. Maybe not the best system, but it works!

DH mulch mows now... when we get our veggie garden back and re-landscape we'll include a composting area/bin for that as well. The only thing I don't care for is the neighbor's magnolia tree... and those big pods it leaves all over our yard and in my flower gardens. DH has to re-mow the large heavy leaves 3 times to mulch them. Love the trees and blooms, though.

PKponder, fun topic. I am thrilled to read about so many member either composting their leaves, returning them to the woods or donating them to urban compost. Leaf mulch and leaf mold are gold. Before we had a mulching/bag mower, I would rake our many leaves (we're in a clearing in woods) and transfer them to a 10x10 tarp, then drag the tarp to the edge of the property where we had our various leaf and compost piles. Now we have a push-power walking mower that can mulch or bag. I like the way the mower shreds them -- I can get more leaves into the ba attachment. I walk the mower down back, then empty the full bag of choppedhardwood leaves into an ad hoc "leaf corral" -- a 6 ft. Tall haphazard enclosure of cattle fencing that stay upright. By late spring, the leaves have flattened down to about 1/3 the volume. I also mix/layer some of the mulched leaves into the garden/kitsch vegetable waste compost pile. I can use the broken down leaf waste or compost for mulch and or turn it over into my garden soil. The worms appreciate that.

Years ago recall (circa 1966) people in suburban areas burning piles of raked leaves. October football games on the radio and the fragrance of slow burning Leaves -- there's a few memory locations for that. Environmentally, not good to burn leaves. Thanks to the organic gardeners, Rodale and mulching enthusiasts, then the environmentally cluey.

We also have a large revolving brush pile over our banking. The cottontails, snowshoe hares and opossums relish that. Lots of stone walls, but the chipmunks, deer mice and deer ticks are a bit of a pain in the butt -- too many deer ticks.

I admire them and leave them alone.

We have lots of trees but the majority are oaks and I’ve been told that they don’t work too well as mulch. So lukki us, we get to spend many many weekends raking, mowing and bagging them up. This past weekend we spent literal all day Sunday out there and the yard looked so nice when it was done. Then the winds came Sunday night with gusts of 30-35 mph and now the yards have more leaves than they did Sunday morning.