No raking in BC yet but the leaves are all turning the most beautiful color on the trees and some of the hosta too. Warm enough to be outdoors without a sweater today

Myself. I leave leaves in the beds. They will help keep the ground insulated (a little anyway) and any decomposition will add nutrients.

Simply gorgeous, almosthooked.

Jon

I'm with you jonnyb. When I first started gardening I used to rake and rake and rake some more till all the leaves were bagged and tossed. What a waste! In spring, I'd have to rake again (where did all those leaves come from over the winter??). I stopped all that nonsense a couple of seasons later and now just run the mower over the leaves and blow them right into the beds. You're right, it's a great insulator and they decompose just fine. Lesson learned: LEAVE YOUR LEAVES!

I'd like to not rake, but we get over a foot of leaves.

I had just removed 3 trees which I did not need for shade, will have less leaves next year. Though I still have one big maple to go. Last week I put 20 bags of leaves to the curb for town pickup for their composting. Next week most leaves will be down and probably will have a killing frost. Then I will get leaves out of the plantings and mow and vacuum them to have them chopped for putting them right back as mulch.

My philosophy is to do all the cleanup I can do in fall because there always is little time in spring. Bernd

Eleven, I live in a hardwood forest, so believe me, I know about a foot of leaves. It's a good thing and your gardens will thrive for them.
I usually hope for between one to three feet of leaves. Snow will compact them and the hostas will still burst through. Leave your leaves and your garden will thank you.

From this area, which will fill up at least 3 times more-

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4 shredded wheelbarrows and 3 tarps full of leaves, which went here-

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Shredded, nearest the house on the side of the road on the 'Corner Lot'. here I have used English Ivy-

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Vinca Minor, Rhododendrons...

and daisies, Lazy Susans as well as the Montauk Daisies and Chrysanthemums shown above. There are many small seedling hosta as well.

My neighborhood beautification effort.

I have not scratched the surface raking leaves.

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Mostly pine needles down so far. I am going to try and vacuum the leaves off the needles. I hope I can do that. I would like to leave them in place.

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The 'Big Stuff' is yet to come.

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The last one is on the 'corner lot' which will just be blown over leaves.

Jon

I'm with you Bernd. I also like to do all the clean up in the fall because I find that what I left in the fall is waiting for me in the spring. Yuck! So far bagged about 15 leaf bags for curb pickup, and yet my two mature (backyard) maple trees have just begun dropping leaves. Leaf clean up is done on my front yard weekly to be courteous to my neighbors. The backyard is fenced so whatever falls there is mine to deal with whenever.

Today I mowed the lawn, in front after I bagged leaves first, in the back with leaves being mulched by the mower at a low setting. I keep at it to avoid doing all with too much work then. Most leaves are down now, but hostas have not seen a killing frost yet. Bernd

Looks great, everyone. And to think, before I started growing hosta I used to stress out about all the pine needles that fell on the areas where the hosta now grow. These days, I use a rake and get the brown ones off the trees that have settled into the more horizontal nooks and crannies of the pine trees. Then I spread 'em on the beds.

Now I love the needles (and the hosta do, too, I think)!

Don B.

I guess it is this time of the year for the mulching and raking.. I do most of mine with the riding lawn mower and bagger , then spread them on all the flowerbeds. Looking at the maples on the west side of the drive it is almost time to get more gas and get busy. I would like to know if I should put seasoned manure on first , then the mulched leaves or is it best to put the manure on in the spring?

Every year brings down at least three 2 ton feed bags full of mulched leaves that I generally share with Myrle . She gets less and less as I plant more . All her fault for getting me started ! She seems to have slowed down buying and doesn't use as many . Next year could be a different story . I never did a hosta count this year but I got more then I thought I was going to get but still have more on my want list.. go figure.