I've been tutoring with Eric...quick on the draw is rule #1 I figured that was what you were getting at though. That is actually just an internet pic...but could be mine...we have a couple Maples that usually provide spectacular color...not this year though...the one has been dropping brown/yellow leaves slowly for a month already now...the other is still green...they usually go at the same time...one bright yellow, the other bright red.
The local weather guy said the other day that most of the country is going to have poor color this year...
Warm days and cool nights bring the colors out. Well, is just been warm around here. For the most part.
All I need is about a 40 mile-an-hour wind out of the West at the right time, it has happened and it was much less work
1/2 acre lot. The ones down on the slope, I just let the winter winds take care of, then mulch up in spring. The ones in the back, where most of the maples are concentrated, I suck 'em up with the mulching mower with the bag, dump in a big pile and mulch again. Then I suck them up and put in the 5 compost bins. Best darn garden soil around. Unfortunately, the neighbor has HUGE eastern white pines, and they are a nuescence. I rake them into rows, suck them up and put them in a big pile for mulch, groundcover, etc. What is left I chop up in my wood cutting area to keep the mud down.
The leaves for the most part are still green here. I blow and rake and pile the leaves onto tarps and then drag to below the garden where I make a huge pile of leaves. When it is time for the veggie garden I take the leaves and use them for mulch in the veggie garden to help with weeds and to help with moisture control in the garden. The leaves break down and become soil. In the spring I will turn the garden so any remaining leaves get mixed in with the soil helping to put organic material into the soil. The earthworms love it; I have seen some so large I thought they were baby snakes.
The mailman came with some packages he said that's a nice rig you got there I said yes it is, I really like it, would you like to try it for a while, it's fun He laughed and said no thanks I have enough work to do today I tried to pull a Tom Sawyer on him he didn't bite on it
I got a big strapping UPS driver to swing the sledge a few times on some big rounds I was wedging. He moved on pretty quick, though.
Round 3 I'm not sure if I'm winning or losing here No after picture because I waited till afternoon when it was warmer, then it got dark on me, gets dark too early with this new time, got the front all done though and some in the back, still a lot of leaves on the trees back there should have been down by now
the place I sold was backed up to city park, naturally all those pretty leaves would end up in back yard with the right wind sometimes 3 ft deep. about all I could do was use one of those blower vacs and feed the output into the chipper/shredder with the out put spitting it back into the park area ( course that ain't considered proper by the city- but it their leaves not mine) no way was i spending time chasing back and forth to the city waste area across town, those guys would have thought i was running a leaf raking service with the volume even shredded.
