There are three lawn care tools you may need for clearing your lawn. The mower being the most important but you may have a problem with leaves remaining under and around bushes,in gardens,or nooks and grannies. There are two ways to handle this problem and one would be to rake the leaves out from under these spots and put them in the garbage can. The second method would be to rake them out so the mower can mulch the leaves into a fine dust. You can use either a push mower or a riding mower for this purpose. A riding mower will certainly give your legs a break if your area is large.
I spent many years with a grass catcher on the rear of my mower swallowing up all of those leaves. Then,in my case,the back breaking chore of removing the catcher and pulling it into the woods to empty it became a real challenge. Your chore maybe the filling of leaf bags and carrying them out to the roadside for pickup. As you get older,you become real tired of all this lifting and carrying of bags to the curb. Some of you may have already discovered this easier solution to lawn care and if not then pay close attention.
I no longer make use of a garbage can. I rake to remove leaves from where it is not safe to run the mower. These are put in small rows so my mower does not have to run over a mountain of leaves. Then I begin my mowing by proceeding down one side of the lawn and turning the mower to continue down the opposite side. The mower is constantly working the leaves together into the center of the lawn. If you have obstacles at either side of your lawn,then it may require the mowing of one side twice or three times to prevent sending the leaves back under the bushes or into a garden.
This procedure may take four to five pushes or rides up and down each side until the leaves are mulched into a fine powder. Contrary to popular opinion,this mulching provides excellent nutrients to your lawn. The only difficult debris are pine needles. You maybe able to blow them into a pile but they are not conducive to mulching. This may require the garbage can. I would not leave the needles on the lawn because of their acidic nature which will then mess up your PH.
I know it is becoming a little late in the season for leaf raking. However in some areas the leaves have been a little reluctant to fall from the trees in a timely fashion.This is something you can experience now or save for next fall. It really works and oh what a relief to your body and your lawn care.
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