Fallen Leaves

Ahh, autumn leaves, the colors are beautiful. I should say were beautiful. The Oregon rains have begun in earnest & the beautiful autumn leaves are now on the lawn & driveway. I could let them lay where they are, but it is destructive to the grass & unsightly on the driveway. I’ll leave them gratefully, on the flowerbeds to decompose & add organic matter to my clay soil.
Armed with rakes, brooms, garden debris totes, shovel & lawnmower, I am ready for leaf clean up. A great way to ‘rake’ the leaves off the lawn is to mow them. Set the lawnmower blade a bit higher, unless the lawn needs to be cut. Make sure the grass catcher is attached to the mower. The leaves are picked up, chopped up & bagged.
It makes this job a lot easier & faster! I just took the full grass catcher & emptied it on the perennial beds or empty vegetable bed. The leaf mulch will protect the soil from getting compacted by the winter rains. They eventually break down & are a good source of compost for the beds.
Now to the driveway. I had an idea. Why can’t I use the lawnmower on the driveway? I swept the leaves into rows & set the lawn mower blade to the highest setting. I rolled it over the leaf rows. It wasn’t a total success or total failure. I’ll take what I can get. I had to sweep the rest & deposited those leaves in the composter to break down this winter.
I need to research a machine to vacuum, chop & bag leaves from solid surfaces. I don’t know if there is one out there.
Please let me know of one. I’ll put it on my Christmas list.

Take care,
Judy