Trees and leaves
Discussion
We vac all ours up which shreds them then dump them in black plastic dustbins (hidden behind the shed. Make sure you drill a couple of holes in the bottom of the bins for drainage then just leave them for 12-18 months. They'll shrink down to about half the size, but you'll end up with really good mulch. We've used all ours today so I'm actually looking forward to the leaves falling off again so we can fill the bins!
paulw123 said:
burning leaves is pretty ignorant, they will smoulder for hours. Either compost or take the to the tip.
I tried burning leaves a few years ago, the smoke would have been visible miles away, it looked like I was laying down a smoke screen. It's the sheer volume of leaves that's a problem, collecting them is a pain as is disposing of them. Fortunately I've got a works van and a tip round the corner from work, so I load them up on a Monday morning and borrow one of the lads from the warehouse at work to help me empty them into the big garden refuse bins. Luckily they still let vans in at our tip. I'm going to buy a lawn vacuum, will report back on its effectiveness.
I have a petrol leaf blower/vac shredder that cost about £130 and a fiver in petrol to run.
It hoovers the leaves up and shreds them to about 10:1 (that's what the book says, I haven't done any empirical study).
Takes about ten minutes to whizz over the lawn and sort out the sycamore and willow tree crap once or twice a week.
I then dump the shredded stuff in my leaf mould bin.
Like other's said, I'm happy taking others leaves and this time of year hoover the street and nearby office car parks and nobody ever bats an eyelid.
If we have loads of clearing to be done, then a bonfire is the order of the day and I mix half the ash into the compost bin and the rest is kept in a box for feeding plants and stuff through the year.
We have a decent sized garden and with all this faffing, we haven't bought any compost or fertiliser for a year (quite an achievement given the amount of plants the missus keeps growing and planting).
I just treat it as an excuse to get out of the house for some time to myself, the use of a power tool is a bonus
It hoovers the leaves up and shreds them to about 10:1 (that's what the book says, I haven't done any empirical study).
Takes about ten minutes to whizz over the lawn and sort out the sycamore and willow tree crap once or twice a week.
I then dump the shredded stuff in my leaf mould bin.
Like other's said, I'm happy taking others leaves and this time of year hoover the street and nearby office car parks and nobody ever bats an eyelid.
If we have loads of clearing to be done, then a bonfire is the order of the day and I mix half the ash into the compost bin and the rest is kept in a box for feeding plants and stuff through the year.
We have a decent sized garden and with all this faffing, we haven't bought any compost or fertiliser for a year (quite an achievement given the amount of plants the missus keeps growing and planting).
I just treat it as an excuse to get out of the house for some time to myself, the use of a power tool is a bonus
Forgot to add the lawn, old pics as we've a few more paths and less lawn now but you can see all the willows, plus a 60 odd foot sycamore and a magnolia that looks amazing for a week in spring and then spends the year dropping buds, petals, leaves and twigs...
Does only take 10-15 minutes to clear this with leaf vac. If it's a windy day, will need to empty the bag a few times though
Does only take 10-15 minutes to clear this with leaf vac. If it's a windy day, will need to empty the bag a few times though
RYH64E said:
It's that time of the year again, the trees are moulting and there're bloody leaves everywhere, I've just spent 3 hours raking, sweeping and using a lawnmower to hoover them up, then put them in builders bags to take down the tip. I filled 6 bags today and past experience suggests that will be par for the course for the next 6 weeks. I've got a leaf blower but it doesn't really help, imo. How do others deal with the problem? There's got to be an easier way than this.
f
k me, they're just leaves. Thank Christ you weren't fighting in the trenches for us, lol. Man up and grow some balls. You'll be after a leaf blower next.RYH64E said:
It's that time of the year again, the trees are moulting and there're bloody leaves everywhere, I've just spent 3 hours raking, sweeping and using a lawnmower to hoover them up, then put them in builders bags to take down the tip. I filled 6 bags today and past experience suggests that will be par for the course for the next 6 weeks. I've got a leaf blower but it doesn't really help, imo. How do others deal with the problem? There's got to be an easier way than this
Yes ask your gardener what the hell is going on!!! he will ask one of the under gardeners , you really should take more notice what the staff are doing.... Get a grip Man....
This autumn I am fully appreciating the back breaking work of felling and stump grinding 42 trees from my garden in the last 18 months.
There's about 10 trees left, four of which are evergreen. The autumn clean up has been something like a 3 hour job so far, last year it was 3 hours each day, every weekend for 2 months.
There's about 10 trees left, four of which are evergreen. The autumn clean up has been something like a 3 hour job so far, last year it was 3 hours each day, every weekend for 2 months.
powerstroke said:
Yes ask your gardener what the hell is going on!!! he will ask one of the under gardeners , you really should take more notice what the staff are doing.... Get a grip Man....
My gardener has just retired, scarifying my lawn was his last paid job. One of the downsides of living in a small village is a complete lack of cheap, hard working eastern european immigrants, getting reliable help is a nightmare.
Boosted LS1 said:
fk me, they're just leaves. Thank Christ you weren't fighting in the trenches for us, lol. Man up and grow some balls. You'll be after a leaf blower next.
Just leaves, but a lot of them. Got a leaf blower, if they worked people would use them to clean their carpets, but they don't work so pepole use a hoover.k me, they're just leaves. Thank Christ you weren't fighting in the trenches for us, lol. Man up and grow some balls. You'll be after a leaf blower next.Bought one of these, will try it out on the weekend.
RYH64E said:
GetCarter said:
Live in a forest of evergreens. HTH 
Have a massive Holm Oak as well, it's supposedly evergreen but the damn thing still drops it's leaves, just at less predictable intervals.Gassing Station | Homes, Gardens and DIY | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff