I have a mulching mower - best thing I ever had for the lawn. Mulch everything in and let it compost down. We cleaned up the studio yard this past weekend, and I was suprised how well the mower mulched down the massive amounts of leaves there (of course, I had to go over it twice). At home, we have a leaf compost pile that yields up the greatest soil ever, plus the worms that get into it enrich it even more with their poop.

My kids raked the front yard yesterday. Awesome. Although the trees still have lots of leaves on them, so it will need to be done again. I gave them $5 to split.

If I cover their car fare can you send em up here to work on my yard?

We vacuum 'em up with a leaf blower/shredder and dump the shredded leaves on the veggie garden. At least till we get tired of doing it, then just mow 'em over.

But then, we don't live in a tidy manicured neighborhood - we're kind of out in the sticks so it doesn't matter so much, and 1.5 acres is a lot of land to rake. :D

We have a particular type of tree in our yard (a number of them) that shed leaves or flowers or seed pods at different times of the year. They're great for shade in the summer, and because they've got no leaves in winter, it makes the area they cover a bit warmer because they let the sun in, but the shedding shits me off. It's a poinsiana. I'm thinking about pulling them out, but it'll be a huge job. They're quite large.

As to raking. Yes I do it, mainly because these stupid trees shed over our concreted areas which we like to use for things like BBQ'ing and so on. I wouldn't if we didn't use the area though. Grass doesn't usually grow well under these trees anyway because the foliage is too dense in summer, and in winter there's too much crap on the ground from the leaves and old twigs.

I like it when the Aussies say 'shits me off'

that sounds worse than being pissed off

agreed.

getting shit on yourself is, I think, 7 times worse than getting piss on yourself.

:)

Leaf blow. The yard is too big to rake. Been the 6th time I blew leaves back into the woods where they belong. Oak trees are a pain in the ass.

I like those.

Oak leaves are the most treacherous mtn biking as well. The have a large very smooth surface area. Your tire's foot-print can be fully contained on one leaf making for some dicey situations if you brake.

Sycamores too.

What's he have to do with it?

well he had a dicey break situation recently too

clever you...!