Philosophies Of Raking

crank · Nov 22, 2020

So I just finished raking the yard. I like to let all the leaves fall and then rake once, the old fashioned way. I use a rake. What really annoys me is all those 2-stroke leaf blowers blowing constantly throughout the neighborhood. Why do you need to do it every week? What are you doing going to the gym, probably lifting weights while some landscape laborers are blowing your leaves around when you can get your exercise outdoors raking!

I like to burn some fossil fuel just as much as the next guy when I clean up the yard, but, the fossil be me.

dreadnut · Nov 22, 2020

Much of it depends on how many leaves you have...there's no way I could rake all the leaves from my 1 acre yard. I have a backpack blower.

crank · Nov 22, 2020

I used to have almost an acre of yard on 2+ acre property. I raked that by hand as well. Multi day project. I was younger. Don't miss it.

richardp69 · Nov 22, 2020

I love being on my John Deere. Relaxing, no pressure work so I just mulch them several times per fall. Good for the yard as well.

fronobulax · Nov 22, 2020

She who rakes the leaves does it often because she likes the exercise and believes some of the leaves, if left in place, kill plants she would rather have alive in the spring.

Two issues here - how? (rake, blower, lawn mower, etc.) and how often?

dreadnut · Nov 22, 2020

Actually, 1 person on the rake and one on the blower working in unison works best.

Westerly Wood · Nov 22, 2020

Just raked some bougainvillea clippings up off my postage stamp yard. Elbow kind of sore now. Good thing I bought the F30R.

GardMan · Nov 22, 2020

My procedure is hand rake to a pile in the middle of the lawn, then vacuum them up into a bag (electric blower with vacuum attachment)... much more compact after being mulched by the vacuum. We don't have a big yard, but get leaves from our trees and the neighbors. During the peak, once a week fills the 70 gal yard refuse can. Gives a good stopping point" Can't rake anymore, the cans full!"

FNG · Nov 22, 2020

richardp69 said:
I love being on my John Deere. Relaxing, no pressure work so I just mulch them several times per fall. Good for the yard as well.

Bingo.

Those mulched up leaves are gold for soil amendment.

I just cut down all the trees in my yard. Problem solved! I had a big oak in my front that was looking ratty, and I visualized it crushing my house in a hurricane. Bye bye!

gjmalcyon · Nov 22, 2020

FNG said:
Bingo.
Those mulched up leaves are gold for soil amendment.

+1

Leave 'em on the lawn and mulch them in.

Smart gardeners mulch fallen leaves into lawn to save money

Mulching fall leaves into lawn can help you reduce fertilizer and weed control.

www.canr.msu.edu

Rebosbro · Nov 22, 2020

After living on a lot with 7 MASSIVE oaks and suffering through fall every year, I now have 1 tree and it’s small. They get sucked up by the Honda

Paul

crank · Nov 22, 2020

Loved our giant oak and hickory but don't miss all those acorns and nuts.

GAD · Nov 23, 2020

As my stepdad used to say, “God put ‘em there, God will take ‘em away.”

Then again, I’ll never win any “best lawn” awards.

Opsimath · Nov 23, 2020

I sweep the pecan leaves off the deck using my "outside broom", and then they're right back again, but have to get them off since it's not good for the deck wood.

I only rake, using an Ames dual tine leaf rake (best rake ever!), when I want to mulch the garden otherwise the leaves, acorns, and sometimes the pecans can stay right where they fall. I'm not getting any best lawn awards either. The natural look suits me fine. Unfortunately it can also suit the snakes fine as we have seen a couple of water moccasins and a few non-poisonous snakes in the yard. I have asked for snake boots for Christmas!

The neighbor across the street keeps his landscaped lawn perfectly cut and cleaned. I think his mower runs almost every weekend.

I have watched lawn people in my mom's neighborhood use leaf blowers and blow the leaves off of the lot they are working and either into the street or onto vacant property next door, I guess just because no one is living there right now. My belief is if you blow them then you need to pick them up, not just make them someone else's problem.

Antney · Nov 23, 2020

I love leaf blowing. I hate raking. I find leaf blowing relaxing and mindless, my thoughts wander all over. I prefer to go out 3 or 4 times a fall and blow smaller piles, as the ash and birch fall earlier than the maple, pear, oak, and cherry. I’m lucky, I have about 2/3 of an acre cleared and am surrounded by acres of woodland, so I just have to blow them into the woods. It’s a lot of leaves, I took down 19 mature trees a few years ago, I still have 26 on my cleared property and hundreds in my woods. I’ve never seen as many acorns as I have this year.

rampside · Nov 23, 2020

Some years ago, I finally settled on waiting 'til they're all down, and getting out the DR mulching leaf vacuum pulled by the Cub Cadet, a gas powered leaf blower and a variety of different rakes, and then do them all at once, over a period of a couple days. Wouldn't ya know, we got hit with several inches of snow and cold in mid October. Thought I'd be looking at Spring, but it warmed up for a couple days in November, snow melted and dried up enough to get the job done.

There are mountains of mulched leaves all over in the woods slowly returning to the earth.

Although I've taken down many trees for different reasons, most still stand because they provide so much beauty throughout the seasons.

walrus · Nov 23, 2020

Raking the old fashioned way. Good for the lawn. Getting a bit much for me though as I get older.

fronobulax · Nov 23, 2020

I should note that "raking" is used to describe a finger plucking technique on bass. Basically when you are moving between strings and moving from a higher pitched string to a lower pitched string you use the same finger to pluck the notes on both strings. It is efficient because after plucking the first (higher) string your finger is already moving towards the second.

Nuuska · Nov 23, 2020

We have three huge birches - about 2-3ft thick and 50-60ft high - and two big willow-trees - Salix fragilis 'Bullata' - on backyard plus a big linden on front yard - lot is 970m2 - roughly 10400sqft - usually it takes about a month from first leaves falling off untill it's over. So there's no leaving them laying on ground and getting soaked.

I remove most of them on first dry day - using electric blower on some corners etc - raking most. I try not to clean them all while next wind brings new leaves again - but every 100kg collected is 100kg less to collect tomorrow. When the trees are bare we do final raking and even then we leave some - because the worms will pull what they need underground. And come spring we are eagerly waiting to get to gardening again.

Westerly Wood · Nov 23, 2020

Stella, the lab...

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