Best Way to Rake Leaves

[Obed]

I like to mow/chop leaves into the bagger attachment on the rear of the riding mower. Then I drive to various natural areas I have in the yard where I dump them out for mulch. I never have to buy mulch. Other times I use the riding mower as a mulcher and blow the chopped leaves toward one area of the yard to either be gotten up later or use the mower to blow in one direction into the natural areas and edges. Sometimes I can drive in circles to make a big center pile (CLOCKWISE - deck discharges to the right) or outside piles around the edges of the yard (COUNTER CLOCKWISE), and sometimes I have to drive forward and backward to blow them to one side of the yard. I’m thinking about making a shoot/tube to attach from the mower deck to blow the leaves into my little garden trailer which would hold a lot more leaves than my rear bagger does.

Being able to blow the leaves into a trailer sounds pretty cool. My mower came with a rear bagger but I have never used it. Bagging grass and leaves seems like a lot of trouble. Plus, to me it seems healthier for the yard to discharge the grass back onto the lawn; the clippings provide natural organic material that will turn into topsoil.
Obed

 

[dave1949]

I mower-mulched a bunch of red oak leaves one year. Apparently, it is possible to have too much of a good thing with oak leaves, that strip of grass was killed out by the tannic acid in the oak leaves.

 

[BeezFun]

Too bad you don't have neighbors, that's where I blow ours

 

[theboman]

We got TONS of oak leaves here, about 5:1 tree ratio of oaks to anything else. What I've been told is to make a compost pile, bin, hole, or wherever you can keep them and add a bag of lime from time to time, and if you got it rabbit poop, er droppings. Both are really supposed to turn those acidy leaves into an awesome compost.
The past few years I've shredded leaves and added them to my compost pile, which is weeds, leaves, some veggie table scrap, egg shells, etc., I've used it on my bad garden (soil issues) and low, poor places in the yard and it helps for sure.
This year I'm gonna do the LIME test to how it goes.. what's $10 in lime gonna hurt?

 

[flyweed]

I just got a dr leaf and lawn vac....it's awesome will neve rake again!

 

[Mighty Dodge]

I started doing that last year. Used to haul 50+ trac-vac trailer loads to the woods.

 

[Redbug]

I have a mulching blade on my mower. Also I close up the side blower on the mower with a special cover that came with the mulching kit. I use it year round and don't ever use a mowing blade anymore.

Those leaves just get ground up and after a couple of rains, the bits are all gone. I sometimes drive the mower into a pile of leaves. When you do that, you need to raise the mower deck. After a couple runs through the pile, I lower the deck and by then the pile is reduced to dust and little bits. The only raking I do is to move leaves out to where I can get to them with the mower.

 

[Tig]

I mulch mine. I was going to do a pass this morning, but now I think I'll wait and see what Sandy leaves me.

 

[PAGUY]

I leaf blower mine onto the compost pile and turn them over when adding vegetable table scraps to the pile.

 

[mickd]

I live on a dead end street with many huge maple trees. Last week I was pressure washing the tractor and blew the leaves off the driveway where I was working. The pressure washer was about 4 times more powerful than the leaf blower and so much less tiring than the rake . Needless to say, I put the pressure washer to work on the leaves in the rest of the yard ! After all, is'nt why we need this equipment ?