Why Rake?

[Orchid]

We might rake up a pile or two for the kids to jump in, and then I use them to mulch my flower beds for the winter. Otherwise they just get mowed.

 

[chicmom]

I will just mow them with the lawn tractor, and that chops them up. Now, I do rake the front yard because I think it looks so nice after I do, but the rest of the yard, which is surrounded by woods, doesn't get raked.

I like to put the leaves in the garden for my husband to till over. That makes the soil richer.

One year, I didn't rake the front, and I found that the leaves actually killed the grass, and left this mossy stuff in it's place. That made me kinda ticked off!

So yes I do rake, just only a little bit.

 

[deerman]

Depend on how thick they get, they will kill grass, no sun to grass =dead grass

 

[Carols Clucks]

We rake leaves, to put in the compost heap

 

[AquaEyes]

Oh, this reminds me of when I was on Long Island (in suburbia) and would mortify my roommates. Around the corner from where I lived, the street was lined with huge old trees (I think oak?). Every fall, the people living there would pile the leaves in the street at the curb, and once a week, a big "vacuum cleaner" truck would come through and suck them up. They'd get shredded and sent to the town compost. Well, I had a flower garden going, and I felt there was nothing wrong with taking some before the truck came. So I'd walk around the corner with my garbage cans, fill them up, bring them back to my house, and mow over them until they were finely shredded. Then I'd use it as mulch. My roommates understood the benefit to the act, but asked only that I do it when they weren't home, so they wouldn't have to experience the funny looks from the neighbors.

 

[BrattishTaz]

I never rake the leaves. I just call it "rustic".

 

[kuntrygirl]

Quote:

 

[Laurajean]

I don't rake. I don't see the point of it. I don't waste the energy on it. I could care less what the neighbors think. It's my property; I guess that's the joy and privilege of owning my own property and living alone.

I do take a leaf blower to the front steps so myself and others don't slip and break our neck, but that's the extent of it.

 

[Prisserbabe]

I say just let the decomposing cycle go through

 

[annaraven]

Quote:
I wish! I put woodchips over my entire front yard and there's a few spot where grass is trying to peek up through. Ugh. I'm going to have to put more woodchips I think. Or rake the woodchips away and put down plastic sheeting in those spots and then cover it back up again.