Fall Leaves are Falling!

The first day of fall hit the calendar last week, but no one in central Arkansas believes fall has started. Why? Because we’re still experiencing 90 degree weather. Gotta say though, even though afternoons are still hot, the leaves have started falling in our yard.

At this time of year, I frequently ask my husband to blow the leaves off our deck, so we can sit outdoors to enjoy drinks, food, and conversation with one another and friends. My hubby, being the thoughtful man he is, bought a handheld very light gas powered leaf blower, which he encouraged me to use myself. OMG, this may sound really funny at this point, but I’m here to tell you – I love this light leaf blower. I’ve already used it several times, and so has he.

That said, we’re blowing the leaves off our deck, but we’re blowing them onto our lawn. I’m not using that little leaf blower, and neither is he, to clear our entire large lawn. It’s time for weekly lawn professionals.

Here’s the facts. Those leaves are falling fast, even with these warm temps. The pile of leaves will get deeper and deeper in our years unless we take action. So, we have three choices.

WAIT UNTIL ALL THE LEAVES HAVE FALLEN

Lots of folks agree with this philosophy. Let all the leaves fall from the trees, then rake them all up yourself or pay a professional to do it at that time. Either way, it’s going to take a lot more time to clear your yard at this point. If you’re doing it yourself, that’s going to be a lot more time spent accomplishing this task. If you’re paying for it, it’s going to cost a lot more to clear it all up, because it will take more time. The next two options are these two, whether you’ll do it yourself or hire someone.

RAKE THE LEAVES YOURSELF

Nothing can be more fun than raking the leaves in a pile, then letting the kids and adults fall into them. I love playing in piles of fallen leaves. So, if you’d like to turn fall and raking leaves into a fun family event, please go for it. And, if you enjoy lawn work, absolutely do it and enjoy yourself. Plus, if you don’t like paying someone else to do what you can do, do it even if you hate it. If you are doing this, I strongly recommend the purchase of a strong leaf blower – not a wimpy one like my husband bought for me. And, clear your lawn weekly. It will be less work weekly than waiting to clear it when it’s really deep in your yard. Unless … the next option sounds better to you.

HIRE A PROFESSIONAL (OR AN AMATEUR)

Hire someone to clear your lawn of leaves. I’m sure you noticed, I mentioned hiring either a professional or an amateur, because both are options. Which you choose goes back to one of the comments in the section above.

If you don’t like paying someone to do this, but have decided to do so anyway, you may choose to hire an amateur. I’m using that term really loosely. An amateur is those kids in your neighborhood who are trying to earn money. They may knock on your door with rakes or leaf blowers in hand asking if you will hire them. Or you may knock on your neighbor’s doors asking if their teenagers would like to earn some money clearing your law. It will take them longer to complete the job, and it will likely cost you less to hire them. And, it’s a good option, because you’re being neighborly by both clearing the leaves from your yard and by hiring kids to do it.

If you want it done quickly, hire a professional. They’ll come in with their tarps and backpack blowers clearing your lawn quickly. And, if they do it weekly, your lawn will continually look fabulous.

MUNICIPAL RESOURCES

We live in North Little Rock in Arkansas, where the city send a Leaf Sucker Truck around November through January to pick up the piles of leaves at the curbs of every home in the city. It’s fun to watch the truck vacuum up a huge pile of leaves. But, it starts long after the leaves have started falling, so you have to do something with the leaves until the truck starts it’s rounds. Of course, before that, the city will pick up yard waste that’s bagged, so that’s another option.

My whole reason for blogging about this is this … do something about your leaves. Don’t hope for a fall storm to blow your leaves into your neighbor’s yards. That’s just not very neighborly. And, have some fun – if your kids or your grandkids want to jump into a pile of leaves. Spend a few minutes to make a pile, even if you’ve hired someone to finish the complete job.