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Leaf raking is the age-old way of lawn and garden maintenance. As much as we love autumn foliage, cleaning them up is a lot of work and leaf raking can take a lot of time and effort. However, we can’t just let things be and wait for nature to take its course. Piles of leaves, especially the damp ones, can be breeding grounds of pesky and disease-bearing insects such as mosquitoes. Hence, it is always important to keep outdoor areas clean and leaf-cover free. If you are not attuned to the latest innovations in lawn care and maintenance, leaf raking should be the number one in your to-do list this fall.
You may not even be fully aware of this but there’s also a proper way of leaf raking. It isn’t enough to remove leaf cover and pine needles that you see on the ground. You also need to eliminate thatch and all debris left. Thatch is the term for dead layers of plant vegetation in grass. Leaf raking takes a lot of muscle since thatch can be stubborn most of the time.
The next question is, what will you do with raked leaves? Just pile them? Put them in trash bags, ready for the garbage collector? Or do something good with them? If you nodded your head to the last choice, read on. Leaf raking is the initial step to composting or mulching. We all know that plants need nutrients most the time and compost and mulch are good providers of these nutrients. Why not create them yourself?
The first thing that you need to understand is that it’s not a simple process. After leaf raking, you cannot just pile them and wait for them to turn into what you expect. After leaf raking, you need to shred them (using, perhaps, a leaf shredder or mulcher) to tiny little pieces to hasten the process. If your target is mulch, then congratulations, you now have your homemade mulch. However, if you want compost, there’s more to do. Compost, by its name, is decomposed organic material such as leaves, twigs, grass clippings, and wood chips. After leaf raking and shredding, you will need to put the necessary ingredients and do the turn-over process for it to become compost.
However, leaf raking is not the only alternative you have. There are tens of power equipment available in the market that you can use to get rid of foliage and debris. There are leaf sweepers, lawn vacuums, leaf blowers, leaf shredders, and even combinations thereof. They can totally complete the job in the smallest amount of time possible. Let’s face it, leaf raking is a thing of the past.
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Author Bio Box: Patricia Wainwright
Get all the facts about gardening equipment and organic gardening at GreenThumbArticles.com!
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