The Morning is so Dark

[Ridgerunner]

I put the coffee pot together the night before. The first thing I do when I get up is turn the coffee pot on. By the time I've finished my morning ablutions and gotten dressed, the coffee is done. Since I retired, breakfast may wait a couple of hours but that first coffee does not wait.

I turn the computer on as I am getting dressed. By the time I get the first cup of coffee it's practically always finished with its updates and I'm ready to go.

 

[ninnymary]

Hard to believe that only two months ago, I was driving to work with the sun in my eyes... now I'm driving to work with the headlights on.

The leaves have just begun falling here, some trees are still green. The strong winds, though, brought about 1/2 of the leaves down from my box elders. With dry weather predicted to hold until Friday, I'll begin collecting & shredding leaves this week. If the soil is dry enough, I'll till those directly into my home gardens; if not, they will be bagged & stored in the shed until Spring.

How do you shred them?

Mary

 

[Nyboy]

Mary they have machines both gas and electric. I see them all the time on CL. I just run any leafs on ground with lawn mower.

 

[ninnymary]

Mary they have machines both gas and electric. I see them all the time on CL. I just run any leafs on ground with lawn mower.

I bet your mower has a bag. Mine doesn't and it would be nice to be able to shred them before they go in the compost bin. I sometimes find old leaves stuck together that didn't break down.

Mary

 

[ducks4you]

I have a bag mower, but you don't need it to shred the leaves. Like above, keep running the mower over them. Charles Darwin observed that unaltered leaves will naturally break down into soil bc the earthworms loves them.

 

[Just-Moxie]

We pile them up in the run and the chickens shred them. Turn them right into compost

 

[ninnymary]

I have a bag mower, but you don't need it to shred the leaves. Like above, keep running the mower over them. Charles Darwin observed that unaltered leaves will naturally break down into soil bc the earthworms loves them.

Won't the fly all over the place if you don't have a bag?

What does Darwin mean by unaltered? Because I can tell you mine aren't and they still stick together usually way at the bottom of the bin. They will have been there for months and still haven't broken down.

Mary

 

[Nyboy]

Nope no bag they end up on lawn all winter by spring gone.

 

[Nyboy]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Flowtron-L...pid=12011567968&hash=item41f00b18af:rk:1:pf:0

 

[thistlebloom]

You can use a mower without a bag.

Rake your pile up alongside a barrier of some kind. A sheet of plywood works if you don't have a handy fence, then run your mower over the pile with the discharge chute directed at the barrier.

Obviously a side discharge mower is the best, but if it's a rear discharge it should have a gate thingy that keeps the clippings from blowing backward if the bag isn't attached.

You will probably want to rerake into a pile and go over the leaves a few times.

I have done this and it works fine.