"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


I get more than the typical ton of leaves in my back yard and the riding
mower has taken what used to be a three day raking job and cut it down to
less than two hours. I just ride in a circle throwing the leaves towards
the center. As the circle gets smaller the leaves are continually getting
chopped up. Eventually I end up with a band of leaves abut 3-5 feet wide the
length of the yard. It then takes less than a half hour or so to rake them
up and cart away. Fortunately, I live next to the woods (that's where most
of the leaves came from) and dump them right back to where they originated
from.
MLD