I Was Leaving Today

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I couldn’t stand it anymore. I’ve been thinking about this for a while now and I just couldn’t take it anymore. It was just too much. The pressure of leaving has been building since the Garden Blogger Fall Color Project and each day it built a little more, another layer added to the top. I took all I could before I gave in and did something.

While the girls were napping I began the process of leaving. I gathered what I needed and went out through the garage. Wouldn’t you know it, I had a flat. I examined the tire and determined it had enough air in it to go, at least for today. I really need to get that wheelbarrow fixed but a flat wheelbarrow wasn’t going to stop my leaf gathering!

I brought it to the backyard and armed with my rake and my gloves I proceeded to rake the leaves into piles then I gathered them into the wheelbarrow. Now what to do with them? I could have put them in the compost bin, in fact I did put one pile there but I had other plans for the rest of the leaves. What could be better than free mulch? Leaves make the perfect mulch. They’re free and they break down over time improving the soil as they decompose. I put the leaves around the hemlock privacy screen and along the eastern property line. One day that side of the house will be a shaded corridor but for now its just another work in progress!

13 thoughts on “I Was Leaving Today”

  1. Wheeeew!!!! Thank goodness you weren't doing what I first thought you were. I'm glad you were only getting leaves for mulch & to tidy up the yard a bit.

  6. Lola,

    I could never do that! Yep just leaves, but they have been driving me nuts just sitting there on the lawn.

    Tina,

    I just hope I don’t run out!

    Nancy,

    Thanks! Leaving is great for the garden.

    Gail,

    I’m glad you enjoyed it!

    Darla,

    Just a little humor in the garden! 🙂

  7. You got my attention with the title! 🙂 I love using the leaves in my yard as free mulch too. They make a nice winter quilt for the garden with all the freezing & thawing we get in the winter. It helps with the heaving of perennials from this process too.

  8. Hi Dave, I knew you would never do that, but you sure sounded convincing! You are starting a wonderful woodland with that leaf litter. We did that in our other TN house that had an acre of lawn! Just get letting the leaves lie and blow the rest into those areas. We kept planting more trees, free dogwoods from the state and then our own seedlings. It looks so full now when we drive by the old house, so much better than lawn and a great privacy screen too. Good deal! Have a wonderful holiday with your family.
    Frances

  9. I don’t like to let the leaves lay in flat layers on the ground by the perennials in the winter here, because they form such a mat for fungus and bugs and things. However, Romie mows over them to chop them and then I use them for mulch (or put them in the compost bin). I go in and remove the leaves before they have a chance to compact. In some cases, if I don’t get to them soon enough, they’ve actually smothered some of the little seedlings. I do leave the ones that have gotten caught up in the shrubs, such as the azaleas, since they help keep them a little warmer that way. It probably depends on what kind of leaves you have. Our big oak leaves just cover too much area at once. In the case of the willow leaves, I leave those, no problem.

  10. Racquel,

    Very good point. That heaving can lead some rough treatment of plants!

    Frances,

    We’re gradually transforming this place. Leaves and grass clippings have done a lot of the work for us. Especially when it comes to making new planting beds. I hope that later when we leave this house to find another (years away still) that we can come back and see positive changes like your old home!

    Kylee,

    Good ideas! I used to mow over the leaves then put them in place with the bagger attachment. Unfortunately that’s the mower I blew up…so…I’ll have to do without this year. If the leaves go into a perennial bed grinding them up or composting them first is a good idea but our leaves are around trees and shrubs which should be able to handle the leaves. Most of our leaves are maple and wild cherry but we do have a few sycamore leaves and boy are they big!

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