# I am completely lost with landscaping - first house. Suggestion for leaves



## J187 (May 19, 2006)

Ok, 24K sq ft of backyard covered in leaves. Seems like raking would be an insurmountable task. Can't afford landscapers. I do have a ride-on lawn tractor. Could I buy a mulching blade for it and just mulch the leaves? What does it entail? Would I be better just trying to rake? If mulching would work, would any blade made for "mulching" work or should I look for something special? Thanks


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## majakdragon (Sep 16, 2006)

With that much area, I think I would just run the mower over the leaves. This will chop them up pretty fine without a special blade. Slower the speed, the more it would mince them. You may want to cover the discharge opening on the deck to keep the leaves in the blades longer also.


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## ><(((jan(((D> (Aug 28, 2006)

i just mow over my leaves in the back. i do rake in the front yard because my town comes around with a vacuum truck to suck up leaves you rake to the curb.


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## 747 (Feb 11, 2005)

J187 said:


> Ok, 24K sq ft of backyard covered in leaves. Seems like raking would be an insurmountable task. Can't afford landscapers. I do have a ride-on lawn tractor. Could I buy a mulching blade for it and just mulch the leaves? What does it entail? Would I be better just trying to rake? If mulching would work, would any blade made for "mulching" work or should I look for something special? Thanks


I'm under vacation this week and just did that yesterday. I have a push mulching mower. What really peed me off was it was windy out and the lawn looked good for a bout 2 hours.  Finally how about buying one of those attachments i see on tv you pull behind your rider and it sucks and mulches its probably not cheap.


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## 747 (Feb 11, 2005)

><(((jan(((D> said:


> i just mow over my leaves in the back. i do rake in the front yard because my town comes around with a vacuum truck to suck up leaves you rake to the curb.



My town does that to.


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## troubleseeker (Sep 25, 2006)

Mulching works pretty good. Cover the dischare on the mower( most come with plates to do this, and buy a mulching blade . They have an extra offset in the blade to raise the cuttings back up into the path of the blade and rechop them. And cut when dry, mowers set up to mulch don't like wet clippings.


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## J187 (May 19, 2006)

Sounds good. I figured I might as well get my use out of the tractor that cost me over $1000. It does a fantastic job w/ the lawn I just didn't know if it would work for the leaves. The mulching blade for it is cheap, probably comes w/ a plate. Thanks guys!


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## Tommy Plumb (Oct 7, 2006)

Another option if the town takes piles off the street or you have a place on your property to dump them you can get an 8hp plus walk behind blower. Start at one end of the yard working with the wind and just keep blowing them twords the other end. Once you have a respectale pile or the blower is starting to have trouble moving the pile lay out a 15*15 or so piece of burlap or a tarp. Rake the leaves onto it, pick up the sides to make a big sack and pick it up. Carry it wherever you want to go and dump it. That's how the landscapers do it.


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## Tscarborough (Mar 31, 2006)

Mow/mulch them in until they get too thick, then rake them. If they won't let you burn, compost them or move them to the curb for pickup.


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## J187 (May 19, 2006)

Thanks, I like the idea of mulching. I really cannot afford to buy a leaf blower at this time. My town requires that I bag and label everything for pickup...

I was under the impression that by mulchin w/ the mower, I could leave the leaves where they fall to compost into the earth or whatever- is this accurate? The mulch kit for my mower comes wiht blades, bracket and a block plate for the shoot.


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## majakdragon (Sep 16, 2006)

J187, I was also under the impression that mulching blades were to chop the leaves up very fine and let them fertilize the grass. Never heard of mulching and then raking.


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## J187 (May 19, 2006)

Yeah, seems to me it would be much much simpler to rake while they were whole, no? I am guessing that mulching and fertilizing is good to go. Thanks.


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## JL1 (Nov 1, 2006)

My yard is pretty small but I can literally rake up a full pickup load of leaves. What I do is rake up multiple large piles of leaves the run over the piles with the push mower. One large pile that would equal 4-5 trash bags now equals less than one bag. Then I put them in the compost pile. The trick is I have to wait until mid December till everything is on the ground. Otherwise I'll be raking all fall.


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## J187 (May 19, 2006)

Thanks for the info!! I live in New England, If I wait til december I'll have to put snow tires on my lawn tractor, but point well taken!


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## J187 (May 19, 2006)

Update. I bought the mulch kit. $40. Works great! I mowed my lawn and Mulched my leaves at the same time! What a job it did on the leaves, it looks like I raked 95% of them up. Now I have good fertilizer too. And it gives me more usage out of my tractor.


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## willyoldschool (Nov 2, 2006)

*Decompose the mulch faster*

I used to live in western NY, what we used to do is mulch them like you ended up doing, then in the spring when it started to warm up, use a hose end sprayer(Like the type supplied with Miracle Grow)....I cheat and take off the nozzle and place the container mid line on my garden hose...but you can put it anywhere on the hose you use to water your yard.....add a couple of cheap, and cheap is the key...cans of beer to it...the beer will activate the bacteria and help it break down the nutrients in the mulch for use faster....I also make sure I have a few Good Beers for me to consume while I walk around the property too....another thing I add to the mixture is Liquid Fish emulsion and a couple of small squirts of dish soap...not detergent....Do a google search for Jerry bakers, Tips, Tricks and Tonics.....his mixtures from generally avaiable home items is awesome....but this is what I use to stop having to thatch my yard after so much mulching......

http://www.jerrybaker.com

try this link but get anyone of his books too...


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