Leaves can be an absolute nuisance at this time of year, stuck in gutters, clogging drains, clumps to trip over and just generally making the place untidy.
It's not all doom and gloom though because the trees are actually doing us a favour and giving us free mulch and compost material. Here I will give a quick guide on the best methods to collect, tidy and make use of that yearly leaf fall.
Firstly you need to decide what you want to do with your gathered leaves, they can make excellent compost by either gathering them on their own or adding to an already established compost pile. If you have a wooded area they can simply be put amongst the trees and left to rot. They make an excellent mulch for flower beds, especially for areas that get a little colder as they have excellent heat retention and they are very high in nutrients so they also fertilise while protecting.
Methods
Regardless of what method you use to move them you will always need to prepare a patch to move them to whether it be your compost corner or flower bed. You can invest in a tarp to place under them and to drag to your desired area, The Gladiator Tarpaulin Blue Tarp comes with rope eyelets which makes dragging it much easier.
Depending very much on the size of the area you are dealing with, the right tool for the job can make all the difference.
If you have a very small garden simply picking them up by hand or using a rake such as the eagle 18" Poly Leaf Rake 20 Tooth can be enough.
For larger gardens you are better off getting a decent leaf blower such as the Dargan Back Pack Leaf Blower which will make quick work of them.
For a medium sized area and if you don't want to be lifting piles of leaves you can get the Einhell 18v Cordless Leaf Vacuum, these work particularly well if you are dealing with smaller leaves such as that from Alders and the Beech. It also works as a blower so it's useful for the larger leaves too.
If you don't want the hassle of raking or composting and you are not too fussed by the look of it you can also simply mow the leaves. This method will shred them up and enrich the soil as well as providing weed suppression. If using this method you need to use the mower on a high setting without the collection bag. It should be done regularly as soon as the leaves start to fall. Go over them a couple of times to get them as small as possible. Try not to mow when the ground is very wet however as this will damage your grass and the leaves may smother it.
Finally if you have no area to put the collected leaves you can simply bag them up in black bags, make a few holes in the bags and stack them somewhere out of the way. This will make a beautifully rich leaf mould for springtime and can be used as an enricher for potting mixes.
