I think what you have in mind will work OK, but you'll be emptying your
collector every couple of minutes. They make tow behind leaf vacuums which
you'd attach to an enclosed cart, which hold a lot more leaves. They cost
though. I have a large lawn with only a few trees, when the leaves fall I
mow them in a circular pattern around the trees, blowing them toward the
trees. This method works pretty well as I'm left with a pile of mulch around
the trees which I manually pick up and cart away. hth, Roy in NY
"Bonnie" wrote in message
...
I am thinking of purchasing a lawn tractor.

Those of you that own one....are you able to mow over (shred) your leaves
in the fall finely enough to either leave them on the lawn as mulch, or
bag and compost them?

My property really doesn't need a rider (144' x 85') but if I could do my
leaves myself (mostly oak which don't compost well unless shredded pretty
finely) it would nearly pay for itself in one season. Last year it cost me
$500 to have someone rake and cart off my leaves (a lot of trees). I'd
like to be able to shred the leaves, then put the bagger on the rider,
ride over them again, empty the bagger and dump them in a compost pile.

It will cost me nearly $500 to have someone mow this season (and that's
only once every two weeks). I would love to be able to compost my leaves
but I need to be able to shred them. The reason I don't mow myself is that
after the 1½ hours that it takes me in the heat of the summer, I am so
wiped out, it ruins the rest of the day for me. I know...I'm a whimp. (I'm
49, hate the heat of the summer. I prefer 30° to 80°.)

Anyway, what are your thoughts on this?

Bonnie in NJ