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The leaves on the lawn in my yard don’t satisfy my leaf craving, so I go trolling the curb for bags and bags of my neighbors’ leaves, too. I’m sure I raise some eyebrows, like when I raid their cardboard on recycle day, but I can’t help it.
I could (and do) put them as is in the compost heap, but I really prefer them mulched. They decompose faster and easier when they’ve been pulverized.
Here are the two big bags from the top picture, emptied out:
Then I spread them out with a rake thin enough to mow:
After mowing:
Where did they go?
Here they are, raked into rows:
This is more than the two bags. More like 8 or 10.
It can go on the compost pile to layer with greens for awesome compost or use it as mulch.
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m a huge fan of stealing bags of leaves off the curb in the fall. Unfortunately, I live far from any curbside pickup, so I have to depend on my mom to grab them in town, then I pick them up when I go to visit. I could use hundreds of bags, but usually only end up with about 30.
Maybe you should try buying one of the leaf hoovers…my parents have one that shreds the leaves as it picks them up and then you can just empty the bag wherever you want to…easy!!
I do that with all the yard trimmings and end of the garden season plants. I pull out all the plants, trim bushes, etc then mow away! They break down so much faster. I throw some to the chickens. They love their greens in small sizes.
Oh my goodness gals. I’ve got 30+ massive oaks. When do you want to come get the leaves? In the fall we are astonished at how much tissue these babies drop — and then they proceed to make it all again and push it out in the spring!
Great idea! Are you mowing the leaves with a push mower or a regular, loud one? How many passes does it take to get them small? Are any leaves poisonous to chickens? I have pin oak, maple, ginko and yew. And a lot of needles (pine and doug fir) that I’m sure will get in there too.
CarrieK–It’s a small, traditional mower. One pass usually does it. Here is an extensive list of plants toxic to poultry:
PoultryHelp
I didn’t see any of yours listed.
Many thanks!!!