preparing for winter...common sense edition

I couldn't agree more, Lori.....I have never been one to pine for a "nice lawn," perfectly manicured flowerbeds and grass swept free of fallen leaves. I can't understand the appeal, to be honest with you. I leave everything right where it is until springtime. I MAY at times remove some of the leaves from the garden just to keep things tidy & the weeds under control. I call the complainers "plastic bubble people." If they're so afraid of nature, they should seal themselves up in a plastic bubble so they don't have to deal with it....then they can roll themselves back to Atlanta.

I've get to learn all these lessons....starting the garden in earnest in spring! :)

You have lots of fun ahead in your new property, Lori. Looking forward to your blogs once you've settled in at your new place :)

Oh what bliss, some 'common sence' for a change. Your Dad was clever but then many were in those days when you had to think and do for yourself. I live in the real Countryside and would like to extend a warm and welcoming hand to you Lauran. Like you I leave the leaves on the beds, the irony is that I get bags of 'um from a city dweller!

In the UK most gardeners collect their leaves to turn into leaf mould. Bulba & I are fanatical collectors of leaves, though we also let them lie on the beds to much over the winter. Our local car park has a corner where the leaves all tend to get blown into and he is off down there with the wheel barrow a couple of times a week.

I can understand that for some gardeners gathering up all the leaves and turning into leaf mould suits their style of gardening better than letting the lie on the beds.

lol lori and i totally agree, i do clear some leaves but then i get fed up and leave them to nature, also i never cut plants back, leave them as they protect the new shoots come spring, enjoyed your rant and pics hahaha :o))

Today I swept the paths of very wet leaves and also cleared them off both lawns and scattered them on the flower borders and on the vegetable patch...but the next gust of wind blew them back to where they were beforehand...but it was exercise for me.

I've swept fallen leaves from the path & patio & piled them in a corner, the wind rarely blows them away & I may be lucky enough to have a Hedgehog use it for his Winter home! The other leaves remain on the borders, even though I'm sure slugs are lurking beneath! : o ((

Mine tend to pile up against the house and the fence. I've found box turtles hiding in the leaf piles!

I clear leaves off the lawns, as they can damage the grass, and off the paths as they get slippery. I do collect the leaves and make leafmould, though!

I agree. I love the sight of Autumn leaves on the ground. I even take pictures of them, and we use them for compost and mulching too. Hungarian gardeners are not too tidy either. I'm happy we live in the country.

I am sick of our clueless lords and masters too!
There's a saying that you're never more than ten foot away from a rat, so clearing up your leaves isn't going to make any difference anyway! It's just a case of officials jumping on the green bandwagon - do your civic authorities go around the patk areas clearing up the leaves too?
I'm almost off on a rant now!!

Rant on, girl, rant on!! I'm with you 110%!! I've had neighbours that I am sure would have used a vaccuum cleaner on their yard if they could have done so without drawing attention...then they spend the spring seeding, fertilizing and complaining that their grass wasn't healthy!! Fortunately they have moved on and the group around me are all reasonable now; I no longer get the evil glares from my stray leaves daring to dance into their yard when the wind whisks them from the trees, lol! There are 6 full size maples around my yard (only 2 of them mine) and I manage to mulch all of the leaves into the grass & gardens each year. In spring I rake a few from the gardens and that is it!! Thanks Mother Nature for the free nutrients!!

As if I needed another reason to move...(you're going to love this one Grammazoo) my neighbour has just such a vacuum. I've seen leaf blowers before...but this sucks up the leaves.. screams like a banshee...and it has a huge canvas bag attached which he carries strapped over his shoulder...the leaves are emptied into the large brown paper bags that the city sells for leaf collection! I feel like I fell down a rabbit hole~

Thank you everyone! One of the best "aromas" in nature is the smell of fallen leaves composting! There are forests on the earth that are primeval...there's never been a chainsaw or a rake that came into contact with them...one of them is in Poland, I believe. There you see "forestry" at it's best...the caretaker is Mother Nature herself~!.

oh, how I hate those leafblowers! I have one leafblowing/obsessive mowing neighbor to the right of me & they always give me dirty looks while they're cutting their huge expanse of barren lawn (and I mean huge - no flowers, no garden, just a few fussy boring shrubs in front of their house) if they happen to see me walking my dog or jogging! Fortunately there's a hedge and about an acre between my house and theirs.
Right now my front yard is a carpet of fallen oak leaves....it looks so natural and beautiful & makes the house look as if it's been there forever.

i move the leaves from paths and decking . but it all gos to compost 4 my garden . the rest stays where it falls , nature at its best ..... i am semi rural

The snow will be falling soon and those leaves will hold the moisture and release it slowly to the soil...in the spring when the freeze thaw cycle is causing problems for plant roots...the roots of these plants will remain cool and sometimes frozen solid until the early warmth melts and waters them, and the cycle starts again! It's all very effortless if you get in synch with nature.