leaves It’s Fall Cleanup time! Typically every year, I would have used a vacation day to extend the weekend, allowing for enough daylight for yard cleanup before the weather really gets cold. I have a quarter acre lot (pretty decent size actually, for the houses in my sub) and three very large maple trees that dump at least 30 bags worth of leaves every year. So when I read a recent article about reasons to not rake your leaves I got excited for about half a second.

Letting leaves sit and decompose provide a habitat for all sorts of bugs and critters and as much as I don’t want to be a part of wiping out any kind of species, I can’t avoid yard cleanup entirely. It looks awful and I like my grass in the Spring. I might, however, rake some into the flower beds.

Growing up, we had half an acre, and my Dad would have us rake the leaves all around the foundation of the house for winter insulation.  In the spring, we’d rake away the slimy, rotting, slug covered leaves and wheelbarrow by wheelbarrow, dump them in the garden where he would then rototill them into the soil. Fun job. I swore I would never do that when I got a house of my own, but I may just start, and see if it makes a difference in my gas bill.

Today we put a dent in the yard cleanup, but our one last maple tree is still hanging on to summer. I know the feeling.

4 thoughts on “Yard Work – To Rake or Not To Rake?”
  1. Most houses I have rented have had a lot of trees to where I have had to rake a lot. My current rental doesn’t so what leaves we do have blow right out of the yard most of the time. It has been nice having a chance to take a break.

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