this years tale of leaves

the first pile of leaves


it may not look that big, but it was!


so here is molly in the pile for scale. did these leaves on oct 25. the pile filled 18 bags.


pile number two, with molly again, happy to dive right in. did these leaves oct 26. the pile filled 16 bags.


still PLENTY of leaves left on the damn tree. my gigantic maple tree. its over 10 feet around. this picture doesnt even do it justice as to how big it really is.


molly isnt even as wide as the tree trunk


first two piles cleared, new raised bed full of leaves.


old raised bed block holes stuffed with more leaves


leaf pile number three


leaf pile number four, the smallest of them all, with molly again. did these two piles oct 30. both piles filled 10 bags.


the fifth and final pile, with molly again, happy to roll around or dash thru any leaf pile i make. did this pile nov 1. it filled 6 bags. for a grand total of 40 leaf blower/shredder bags of shredded leaves this year.


the strawberry patch, with one bag of shredded leaves. it took four or five to cover it all. i use the ground cover cloth for easier removal of the leaves in spring. without it i was accidentally yanking up the leaves of the strawberry plants when i was removing the excess shredded leaves. this way i pull all the shredded leaves off easily with the cloth, and then i can sprinkle back on SOME of the partially decomposed shredded leaves, for soil improvement. but not so much that the plants are buried, the way they need to be over winter.


all covered up to survive winter


the bag full of shredded leaves from the leaf blower/shredder, with puppy for size comparison. puppy is a tall, long dog, weighing in at 60-65 pounds. thankfully the bag does not weigh that much!! but its still a good sized bag. puppy was barking at me to put the camera away and play keep-away with his tennis balls.


filled a wire bin in my garden with more shredded leaves, for mulching next spring. the shredded leaves did such a phenomenal job of keeping the weeds down this year.


my next door neighbors have a lot of leaves too. its free if you haul them to the yard waste drop off center in the next suburb further out. here, you now have to pay to have the trash companies pick up your leaves. its an extra $90 a year! these are all his leaves. just a few. still not as many as mine, but close.