[bark4me]

Originally Posted by Two Bills

Leaf mold is natures great bounty. Compost Gold.
Bag it up, keep it dry, leave it to dry out and break down, then mix with your soil.
Nothing is better for turning mediocre soil into rich soil.

Unfortunately, if they are oak leafs they are not as nice. They take longer to break down and they are very acidic which WILL kill your grass

[NoMo50]

Several years ago, there was a TV ad by Stihl back in the Midwest for their leaf blowers. The tag line in the commercial was, "buy a Stihl...make leaves your neighbor's problem."

[jimjamuser]

Originally Posted by Daxdog

Well friends and neighbors, our favorite Canadian snowbird did it again, he raked the leaves in his yard and piled them in the middle of the street and let the wind blow them into everyone else’s yard. What a mess!

I have seen people cut their lawns, then blow the cuttings onto the road. They should get a ticket because, Yes, the cars make the grass clipping disappear.........BUT they just turn into DIRT that gets stirred up by further traffic. The dirt ends up in people's homes (and their lungs). Highly trafficked roads are the worst place to do this SAD trick to your neighbors. Makes a person wish that they lived on a cul de sac.
........Maybe someone should put a shovel-full of DIRT on HIS lawn or driveway, until he gets the HINT !

[jimjamuser]

Originally Posted by I'm Popeye!

I have no trees but plenty of leaves from other houses, I also blow them to the middle of the street and hopefully, they will return to their original owners, but I must admit, my blower at times helps them reach their starting destination...

NOT a great solution. That will just create DIRT that will blow back into every person's home on the block.

[jimjamuser]

Originally Posted by fdpaq0580

I would like to sympathize with you, but I don't have a favorite Canadian snowbird. I know Canadians are generally very good folks. I haven't witnessed the piling of leaves in the middle of the street.
Since I have no identity for the miscreant and no location or picture to help me better assess your complaint, I will withhold my "Tsk, Tsk!" and finger wag until I can be sure of directing it to the appropriate naughty individual.

Yours, with utmost sincerity
fdpaq0580

I only know about 4 Canadians and they are all good and cheerful folks!

[Pairadocs]

Originally Posted by Larryandlinda

We are delighted to read ( albeit not an overwhelming amount) of replies favoring a more natural approach to leaves.
They are called leaves for a reason - we just leave them on our 9 acres back north- save for a bungle bow and then in the compost tumbler.weeds are our friends too, Monsanto is not.
We only mow lawn when someone reports us - and then cut at max height.
Lawn is a desert and if anyone does the math we would not be surprised to learn the chemicals used to maintain an opulent lawnstyle lifestyle right at your toes exceeds those chemicals miles in the sky.
Please enjoy sone edutainment from funny man Charlie:
https://youtu.be/DA7T9wOCePs

You probably already know this, but the dichotomy is mind BOGGLING: Florida is all about healthy, all about nature, all about protecting the natural environment and our natural resources. Yet it is hard to explain how different the demands of the various communities are, including our own community. Ours, and others as well, try their best to reject such measures. It's puzzling, (and realize I am not just commenting on The V's, but in general) why so many communities forbid natural landscapes, composting, rain barrels, natural mulching, the list is long. To me it seems everything the agriculture departments of universities try to "teach" the public, the free seminars, the books and pamphlets offered by state departments "free" to residents, any number of measures to encourage such things, is so violently rejected by a "development" or community. It's almost like the food/nutrition situation. We have so much information now on the role of food selection in chronic (and expensive !) illnesses like diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. Yet, take a look at the reality, it very difficult to purchase a produce which does not list the amount of sugar, and THEN list "ADDED sugar" ! ! !) So, if a moderate amount of sugar occurs naturally in so many foods, WHY do we continue to ADD more and more. IF sodium, needed to live, occurs naturally, then WHY keep adding more and more. Last week I noticed a prepared flatbread, whose ingredients already contain a generous amount of sodium, sugar, etc., a flat that typically is an entree for most people, actually contained one entire WEEK"S recommendation for sodium... due to the amount ADDED over what occurs naturally. Human beings are puzzling, we constantly study and discover, but apply very little of that new knowledge. An ag department employee of a major Florida university told me, they know a 100% effective way to significantly cut down on lawn diseases that at time ravage entire Villages. Not that it would totally eliminate them, but would make a significant difference in the amounts of chemicals applied annually (and we eventually end up drinking, no way to prevent all). The solution he told me, was a simple natural solution for lawn mowing businesses to spray on the mower blades before continuing to the next job. This was a quick, hand held, spray across the blades as they load to go to the next stop, takes seconds, not minutes, and is not a costly chemical. Yet, he told me, despite their efforts to give FREE seminars to the owners and ALL employees of these lawn mowing "services" all over the state, they failed completely in their efforts to encourage this simple measure. I think the same principle applies to natural lawn and landscape maintenance like you mentioned concerning the VALUE of mulched leaves.

[I'm Popeye!]

Originally Posted by huge-pigeons

With the trees we have here, we must be talking about, let’s say 40 leaves, maybe less. That would be a pile 1/4” high by 6” wide. I hope it doesn’t hurt a car driving over them

I guess you don't get around much, take a trip up north in the Villages and see the wilderness...