If your yard has a lot of leaves, what is your fall clean up process?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just mow over it, on the mulch setting. This stuff breaks down easily.

+1. It's great fertilizer

We would have a few feet of leaves if we left it. It's that much. Our lawn guy charged us for leaf clean up one year and mulched most of the stuff instead. Everything died, not just the grass but he also killed plants. It was a nightmare. There's a lot of leaves then there really is a lot of leaves.

[Anonymous]

We have a leaf vac. DH vacs up the leaves and then we spread the shredded leaves on our garden beds. Once the those are all mulched we put the excess on the curb and the City of Fairfax runs leaf collection from 11/1-12/30 every year.

[Anonymous]

They all just blow away eventually.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just mow over it, on the mulch setting. This stuff breaks down easily.

+1. It's great fertilizer

We would have a few feet of leaves if we left it. It's that much. Our lawn guy charged us for leaf clean up one year and mulched most of the stuff instead. Everything died, not just the grass but he also killed plants. It was a nightmare. There's a lot of leaves then there really is a lot of leaves.

It depends on the tree species too for sure. Some of them break down fast, others not so much.

As far as mulch I think if they’re shredded they do okay, but there are definitely perennials and reseeding annuals that won’t like it. If you want to “leave the leaves” for real you have to tend towards a woodland garden.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We mow and then put them in bags for weekly pick up. We have way too many leaves to just leave it on the lawn or in the garden as mulch.

Yes I think there is a certain amount that you can not do this with. I mow/mulch in the beginning but they switch to raking to the curb (Thanks Rockville). We leave the areas around the shrubs etc till spring but then they still need to be raked out. They do not break down. We have many big trees in our yard and surrounding yards.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rake and leaf blow to the street

....then what happens....?

If you live in Rockville (city limits) they send a truck around to suck them up.

Fairfax County has given up:

https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/publicworks/recycling-trash/leaf-collection-dates

No they have not...from your own link.
County staff has postponed a formal proposal to discontinue vacuum leaf service after the 2023-2024 season. After conducting an online survey in August 2023 for the public to solicit input on the staff proposal, results revealed that most residents who receive the service wish to keep it. As a result, the proposal, which was submitted to the Board of Supervisors in September 2023 has been postponed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rake and leaf blow to the street

....then what happens....?

If you live in Rockville (city limits) they send a truck around to suck them up.

Fairfax County has given up:

https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/publicworks/recycling-trash/leaf-collection-dates

Only 5% of FFX Co. residents had this option. I've lived here almost 30 years and still don't know who those lucky 5% are.


"Fairfax County will continue to vacuum leaves for the 5% of county residences, approximately 25,000 households, that currently receive the service."

The richest areas like lake barcroft and sleepy hollow.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We mow and then put them in bags for weekly pick up. We have way too many leaves to just leave it on the lawn or in the garden as mulch.

Your regular trash pick up includes yard waste?!

[Anonymous]

Parts of Montgomery County have leaf vacuum service--you make a huge pile in your front yard close to the curb and they come get them (I'm in Silver Spring)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We mow and then put them in bags for weekly pick up. We have way too many leaves to just leave it on the lawn or in the garden as mulch.

Your regular trash pick up includes yard waste?!

In Montgomery County yes. Plus the leaf vacuuming if you pile them etc.

[Anonymous]

Blow (with a battery- powered blower), rake, bag-repeat

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you don't hire out what have you found is the best way to clean them up?

Oh, I was hoping OP would allow for my neighbor's method - call the lawn service when each (!!) leaf falls. Yes, the lawn service thinks that person is cuckoo, but the service will gladly take their money.

[Anonymous]

I just mow them over.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Blow (with a battery- powered blower), rake, bag-repeat

Don’t use a leaf blower on your lawn. It damages the roots of your grass. The grass could eventually die off because of the roots being weakened by the blower.

[Anonymous]

We mow and mulch