# Rake 'em, Blow 'em, Mulch 'em or let 'em lay? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 27, 2002, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rake-em-blow-em-mulch-em-or-let-em-lay/139251 "2002-11-27T23:56:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Batsinma\_Belfry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@Batsinma\_Belfry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batsinma_Belfry)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2002, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rake-em-blow-em-mulch-em-or-let-em-lay/139251/1 "2002-11-27T23:56:42Z")
…So what do you do with your leaves? We let 'em lay until all have fallen, then blow them into the ditch. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2002, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rake-em-blow-em-mulch-em-or-let-em-lay/139251/2 "2002-11-28T00:16:10Z")
I thought that this was going to be another sex poll! 🙂 I rake them up, bag them, and have them picked up. ---
**Author:** ![drm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e57/32.png) [@drm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drm)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2002, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rake-em-blow-em-mulch-em-or-let-em-lay/139251/3 "2002-11-28T00:22:48Z")
we let them lay (or my parents do, the closest thing I have to a lawn is Queens Park and that isn’t exactly mine). We have a huge lawn surrounded by trees that lose their leaves so it’s really the only thing that makes any sort of sense seeing as our grass always continues to grow the following spring. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/2bfe46/32.png) [@John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Carter_of_Mars)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2002, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rake-em-blow-em-mulch-em-or-let-em-lay/139251/4 "2002-11-28T00:26:28Z")
Drive over the lawn, just like mowing grass, with the mulching attachment on the riding lawnmower. Presto-Gismo: Leaves all gone! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Torgo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@Torgo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Torgo)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2002, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rake-em-blow-em-mulch-em-or-let-em-lay/139251/5 "2002-11-28T00:32:27Z")
I gather them up and stuff them in my underwear. ---
**Author:** ![Booker57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Booker57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Booker57)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2002, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rake-em-blow-em-mulch-em-or-let-em-lay/139251/6 "2002-11-28T00:33:25Z")
Lawn vacuum attachment on my neighbors Cub Cadet. Chops them up and bags them. He drops the chopped leaves in my compost pile. It is very large this year. Going to have a good crop this spring. ---
**Author:** ![SoozieQ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dfb087/32.png) [@SoozieQ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SoozieQ)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2002, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rake-em-blow-em-mulch-em-or-let-em-lay/139251/7 "2002-11-28T00:54:29Z")
let 'em lay (i’m lazy) ---
**Author:** ![I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_can_t_believe_that_s_butter)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2002, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rake-em-blow-em-mulch-em-or-let-em-lay/139251/8 "2002-11-28T01:03:39Z")
I just mow 'em. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2002, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rake-em-blow-em-mulch-em-or-let-em-lay/139251/9 "2002-11-28T02:35:15Z")
I let them lay. I am lazy AND I think that they belong there. ---
**Author:** ![Monster104](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Monster104](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monster104)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2002, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rake-em-blow-em-mulch-em-or-let-em-lay/139251/10 "2002-11-28T02:41:07Z")
I would let them lay, since I see no point in cleaning them up when there will be more on the ground in the next couple days. ---
**Author:** ![happyheathen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5e925/32.png) [@happyheathen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/happyheathen)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2002, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rake-em-blow-em-mulch-em-or-let-em-lay/139251/11 "2002-11-28T02:48:25Z")
I figure the plants know what they’re supposed to do. I keep out of it. ---
**Author:** ![zenith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zenith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zenith)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2002, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rake-em-blow-em-mulch-em-or-let-em-lay/139251/12 "2002-11-28T06:05:43Z")
I rake 'em away from the doorways. Otherwise, I let’em be. The conventional wisdom is that if you don’t at least chop 'em up with lawnmower, the leaves will smother the lawn. I haven’t found that to be the case. Leafblowers make absolutely no sense. They annoy the entire neighborhood with their noise and are a waste of time, effort, money, and energy since the wind just blows the leaves back into the yard the next day. ---
**Author:** ![agroof](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@agroof](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/agroof)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2002, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rake-em-blow-em-mulch-em-or-let-em-lay/139251/13 "2002-11-28T06:59:52Z")
I say: Rake 'em onto thy neighbor’s lawn. ---
**Author:** ![Early\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2002, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rake-em-blow-em-mulch-em-or-let-em-lay/139251/14 "2002-11-28T07:30:54Z")
Burn them in place. A real attention-getter. ---
**Author:** ![carlotta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/898d66/32.png) [@carlotta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carlotta)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2002, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rake-em-blow-em-mulch-em-or-let-em-lay/139251/15 "2002-11-28T15:26:06Z")
These damn leaves are the bane of my existence. I think about 20 tons of them fall in our yard every fall. I would let them lay. Kill the lawn, fine, I hate mowing the grass as much as raking the leaves. But if we don’t get rid of them they all blow into our elderly neighbor’s yard who lives downhill and downwind of us and he then he rakes up all his leaves and all our leaves which I can’t bear. So we bought the leaf vacuum! It looks like a lawn mower but sucks everything up and bags it. Thank you Craftsman. If any of you are raking and bagging your leaves I must share this tip with you. Use the rake in concert with a snow shovel, sort of like a broom and dustpan, sort of like tongs. Much better than picking up leaves with hands bending over. Does every one else already know this? It came as a revelation to me when somebody gave me the idea. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2002, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rake-em-blow-em-mulch-em-or-let-em-lay/139251/16 "2002-11-28T15:50:51Z")
Ahem, if you check the store, they have blowers that mulch ($70) Can take about eight-ten bags of leaf & make them one bag. I just rake them onto the driveway & drive on them & after a week they are ready to use for mulch. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2002, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rake-em-blow-em-mulch-em-or-let-em-lay/139251/17 "2002-11-28T16:05:52Z")
Like **carlotta** I have huge quantities of leaves. Most people can’t comprehend what dozens of full size trees can produce. Leaving them lie is NOT an option. I also live where there are heavy downpours from thunderstorms. Erosion is a problem with bare earth (which it becomes if you leave them lie.) They have to be cleaned up at least once a week during the fall. If you can mulch them in place using a mower, you don’t have any sort of leaf problem to begin with. You’re a -5 on the scale from 1 to 10. ---
**Author:** ![ptr2void](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ptr2void/32/3406_2.png) [@ptr2void](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ptr2void)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2002, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rake-em-blow-em-mulch-em-or-let-em-lay/139251/18 "2002-11-28T16:34:40Z")
I tried a couple of things this year. I raked the leaves into large piles and then sucked them up with a handheld leaf vac/blower. I’ve now decided that this is a tremendous waste of time. It takes **much** longer to do this than to just bend over and scoop them up by hand. Part of the problem is _pine needles_. Does anyone have any suggestions for dealing with these annoying bastards? :mad: Do these larger (non-handheld) vacs work with them? ---
**Author:** ![Billy\_Rubin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/billy_rubin/32/3622_2.png) [@Billy\_Rubin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Billy_Rubin)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2002, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rake-em-blow-em-mulch-em-or-let-em-lay/139251/19 "2002-11-28T16:57:34Z")
I’d love to rake mine, because leaves are nature’s VisQueen- they kill anything under them if left to lie. Unfortunately, my yard itself has more than 17 large oaks, and I’m surrounded by hundreds, maybe thousands more. Even if I had a big vac attachment for my tractor, I doubt I could keep up. hell, I’ve been on the roof twelve times this year just blowing leaves out of the gutters. So in the spring, I mow them up into mulch and till them under in the garden. Most of my neighbors, for years, used to rake their leaves onto MY property (it was abandoned at one time) which made the very first cleanup take months. b. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2002, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rake-em-blow-em-mulch-em-or-let-em-lay/139251/20 "2002-11-28T17:45:52Z")
I rake the leaves onto the lawn (from patio, flowerbeds, ect.) Then move the rather big piles to a dirt strip on the side of my house. Then I go over the lawn w/ a mulcher mower. Then I go over that dirt strip with that mower. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rake-em-blow-em-mulch-em-or-let-em-lay/139251.md?page=2)