terry wrote:
On Nov 30, 12:02 pm, wrote:
On Nov 29, 11:34 am, (David Combs) wrote:

Subject: (in North-East USA): Must *every* leaf be blown from lawn?
A couple of people (have nice lawns, gardens, and so on --
and tell me that I *must" get rid of *all* these leaves.
Question: is this really necessary?
And if so, why?
THANKS!
David
Well you can keep it clean and fertilize like crazy every year to
replace the nutriments that the grass and trees used to make those
leaves. while slowly reducing the overall quality of your soil or you
can mulch the leaves. I would suggest that when the total amount of
leaves gets too much, it is better to get them off, but then they
should be put in a recycle pile to cook back to some great soil.

Yes here some people assiduously rake up the leaves (or pay someone to
do so) put them in bags and either pile em up by the roadside to be
picked up or drop them off at designated municipal locations.

And what does the municipality do with them?

They make mulch! Which is then used to enrich (fertilise) flower beds
and lawns! Meanwhile some homeowners go out and buy chemical
fertilisers (often imported) for their lawns.

A local and very well respected horticulturalist/broadcaster does not
recommend the planting of grass at all. Saying it takes too much care
does nothing for the soil and is prone to drought and pests such as
the cinch bug! Rather, plant a low growing version of clover; which is
bug resistant, survives winter frost well, and returns nitrogen to the
soil. So all patching in our front and back is done with clover seed
and it fills in very well mixing with whatever grass is there. It's
been so wet this fall that mulching the leaves has been well nigh
impossible.

I like clover. My rabbits like clover. My neighbors, mostly retired
'more power' types, not so much. They keep offering to treat my lawn to
kill it, along with the dandelions. They didn't take it kindly when I
told them that as long as it was green and held the dirt down, I didn't
really care what it was. I'd love to go to a 'no upkeep' yard, but
realistically, in a subdivision, even without an HOA, it ain't gonna
happen. All it take is one neighbor with a day-glo green lawn calling
the township about 'noxious weeds', and you have a feud going on. (See
my message upthread about the neighbor who told me I should take trees
out to cut down on raking.)

They Just Don't Get It.

--
aem sends...