Do you rake all the leaves from your garden?

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I've recently moved from a house in a town centre, with a small garden and student neighbours, to a house in a suburb where people take a bit more care of their gardens etc.

My next door neighbour rakes the fallen leaves from his lawn and driveway. It takes him about 30 mins every couple of days. It does look better than my garden... but i don't really want to do it!

So. Is this something you do, and I'm a scruff if I don't bother? Or can I safely sit in my house and ignore the leaves, assuming they'll disappear eventually?

I used to rake them and garden wheelie bin them. We have huge conker trees overhanging and it's a massive job completely filling the bin 3 times.

This year I've swept the patio and raked the borders into the lawn and just lawn mowered with out the collection basket on. It makes them vanish. No bad back for me this year.

They do look an eyesore if left and ruins the lawn.

Oh, that's a good idea. I don't want to ruin the lawn - I'll have a go at just shoving them all into to beds at the side. Thank you.

I've quite a small garden by some woodland, but have managed to fill 7 wheelie bins with leaves so far this year. It makes the garden look better and gets me outside. DD age 4 has a tiny rake so she helps. If we don't take the leaves, the grass turns into a mossy mess and all of the paths and paving become dangerously slippery.

Its not good for the grass. However, most of the time I cba I must admit.

Yes, they ruin the lawn, turn into slime on paved areas and bits get trodden / blown into the house. DS is doing ours now.

Brilliant for the soil - I scoop it up when I can be arsed and put in a plastic bag for mulch.

I regularly take up leaves on the gravel in the front of the house as they go brown and slimy and can stain...and also from the tarmac drive as they break down into silt and can make tarmac mossy/slimy.

It's worth doing for 3-4 weeks of the year, and I make leaf mould with what I collect.

Yes, I do. Not every day, but once a week at the weekend.

No, not since I found out they are essential for the ecosystem, butterfly and months species as well as other insects, which go on to feed the birds etc, spend their early stages of life in leaf piles.

I leave the ones in the borders for insects etc but rake the lawn and sweep paving etc. This is the first year I've been consistent with it though. I think it will help the lawn recover quicker in the spring and it will definitely stop slippy paths.

No, not since I found out they are essential for the ecosystem, butterfly and months species as well as other insects, which go on to feed the birds etc, spend their early stages of life in leaf piles

Yes, so we rake or blow them off the lawn, and sweep or blow them under the hedges and next to the fences for this very purpose. We also leave twigs and fallen branches behind the beds for the hogs to hibernate in.

Got a massive oak tree overhanging my fairly small garden, once it’s dropped I have about 9 inches deep of leaves on most of it. The council here has limited tip runs to strictly pre booked only and it’s a battle to get a slot. Not sure what’s I’ll do this year but I did see a neighbor tipping his leaves over the fence onto to common land where the trees are growing 🤔

Yes. Where do you think they will disappear to though? They are not magic leaves..

Yes we do, we blow leaves off the lawn, drive and patio, also give the guttering a blast before it blocks. We regularly fill our brown bin.

You do need to take them off the lawn if you want your lawn to be in good condition. Stops moss growing and mud patches, staining etc.

The leaves are great mulch under trees snd shrubs though so if you have room, let them break down a bit in a bin or compost then put around your bedding/shrubs/trees. I only say to let them break down a bit so that they don’t just blow back into the grass if they’re newly fallen so as not to make you take them all back up

The taking is also good for aerating the soil

Come spring, you’ll be very happy you’ve done this to keep your lawn looking good

Yes, we put some in the garden waste but pile others up in corners and on bare soil to mulch and provide shelter for wildlife.

I like to rake mine onto flowerbeds and under bushes, where they form a mulch and rot down to improve the soil. The worms dig them in for me. In thick piles in corners they may be useful for overwintering hedgehogs

Birds will throw them around in Spring looking for insects to eat.

If you have a large lawnmower, you can set it to high cut and it will collect up all the leaves and shred them for you so they pack down and rot faster. If you have lots you can put them on the compost heap, but they do not compost well due to lack of nitrogen. If you can mix them with grass cuttings they will compost better. You can also pack them in large plastic sacks to rot on their own but I don't know that it's worthwhile. They contain hardly any plant nutrients so are more use as a soil improver.

I use water maceration. Rake them into plastic bags, add some water, fold over the top and they rot down in a few weeks. It works for other things like weeds as well.

Leaf mulch is great for your flower beds! Put the leaves in bin-bags, with a few holes, and make sure they're a bit wet. Leave them somewhere out of the way for a year or so and then you'll have some lovely free stuff to mulch your plants.

Yes. I do it every year and make lovely leaf mould for the garden. Free soil improver!

Yes, in fact was doing that this morning. About three weeks go, filled eight bags of leaves from front and back garden and driveway. Today only five.

I spent this afternoon on my knees picking sodden leaves off the lawn by hand, to put in the compost. Very satisfying and frankly there's bugger all else to do for entertainment these days.

No I don't apart from the cats toilet area

I always think it keeps the border warmer winter.

Obviously at some point I need to remove the leaves but prefer to do it in spring

We do, and take considerable delight in chucking them back next door from whence they came.

My husband does them every other week ready for when the garden bin gets collected .