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Leaf Thieving

ladylotus
16 years ago

Tonight after work I decided it was getting cold enough to put mulch on my roses and other more tender plants. However, with the large project I have been working on I had not gotten any of the bags of leaves I normally use in the Fall. I was worried I missed out entirely as most of the trees no longer have their leaves. So tonight I went out...sneaking around the streets looking for large bags stuffed full of gold. ha ha. I brought home 3 pickup loads filled with bags of leaves.

I have the rest of the week off of work and will use the bags in a tepee fashion on my tender plants and I will cover all my roses with peat moss and soil and then if there are left over leaves I will pile some of those on as well. Hopefully I will finish all my mulching tomorrow and have the rest of my vacation for additional projects.

Do any of you sneak out in the dark and collect peoples leaves which are bagged and ready for garbage pickup? If so, do you feel like a thief? ha ha

Tj

Comments (9)

  • sandysgardens
    16 years ago

    Opposite here! I have 5 large Maple Trees and 3-4 other trees and some bordering neighborÂs trees that shed non-stop into my yard that I pray for a leaf thief to come along! The leaves that fall on the gardens stay put and I add more from raking/mulching, mulch quite a number of loads and spread on veggie garden, stuff leafs here and there and then 3 trailer loads of mulched bags (hate to see how many if not mulched) got toted off to the compost since nobody else in the neighborhood wanted them. Still more are falling that will stay where they land - I'm too tired to think of raking/mulching anymore!

    Sandy

  • heleninramsey
    16 years ago

    Tj...I am always lacking in leaves, the oaks drop into the prairie, the maples are not that big and the others are spruce. I go out in broad daylight, people put them out to be picked up and I don't think they care who takes them...I usually drive and have my son hop out and toss 'em in the truck. I am sure we look like quite the pair...Good luck with your mulching, I got my roses to bed Sunday so I am feeling pretty plucky right now, but sounds like you have more to cover than I :-) Helen.

  • ladylotus
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    Sandy, if I lived closer to you I would be more than happy to take those leaves from ya. ;)

    Helen, I'm glad you were able to get all your roses put down for the winter. It is such a great feeling once we get that big task accomplished.

    I had such an awesome day. I went outside at 8am, started covering all my roses with peat moss, sand and compost. This will be the first time I used compost instead of soil. Hopefully, it will stay cold until Spring so my roses don't start decomposing also. ha ha. I then ran around placing my 5 pickup loads of bagged leaves on any of my tender perennials. Once finished I determined I needed 2 more pickup loads.

    While I was out in the gardens working I was just thinking I needed to start bringing several loads of shredded bark home, so that I could finish re-applying shredded wood on my back garden beds this Fall and into Winter when there are nice days. I put that thought away thinking it was going to be so much more work and soon I heard this loud rumbling noise......here is a large truck from a company that cuts down trees and shreds them. I had called them early this Spring and asked them for several truck loads. Can you believe it? I was so incredibly happy I almost gave all of them a huge bear hug. I think they were worried I was about to give them one too. ha ha. The guy tells me they will be working in this area all week and wondered if I wanted more. ARE YOU KIDDING! Yes, please. What a great week this has been.

    As it got dark I went on my last leaf thieving trip for this year. he he. I was able to get two pickup loads that should cover the rest of my tender perennials. Whew....I will have my gardens completely winterized for the year as soon as I can get these bags placed on my perennials tomorrow morning prior to my cleaning diatribe. ;)

    Tomorrow I will need to stay inside and get my house cleaned and do some baking. It's supposed to be ugly, rainy/snowy anyways, ha ha

    Tj

  • leftwood
    16 years ago

    Then there are others that put out a sign:

    BAGS OF LEAVES(ONLY) WANTED

    And the leaves come to you!

  • doucanoe
    16 years ago

    Oh geez! I could (and would be happy to) supply all of you on the MN Gardening forum with leaf mulch! LOL

    I have way more leaves than I could possibly use, so I usually end up raking them onto a huge tarp and dumping them out in the woods!

    Linda

  • pondwelr
    16 years ago

    In my small Wisconsin city, you must rake the leaves into the road. No plastic, no bags. When I went to the recycling center, was told they dont keep leaf mulch separate from wood mulch. Pondy

  • buncobabe2u
    16 years ago

    Sandy,
    I would be happy to be your leaf thief. You know where I live, so any time you have some you want to get rid of some bring them on in to work.

    Thanks,
    Mary

  • glen3a
    16 years ago

    Here leaf season is pretty well finished but I still would like to mulch the ground over a few perennials. Some peat moss I had got wet and is frozen, so unworkable.

    Yesterday I was taking the dog for a walk and saw, on a lawn a few houses down, a small garbage/Halloween bag shaped like a ghost and stuffed with leaves. I was tempted to just grab it, I mean Halloween is over and I'd probably being doing them a favor by taking it, but I chickened out at the last second.

    I've been using alot of things for mulch: peat moss, leaves, palm tree fronds, even some annuals once they got hit by frost.

    Glen

  • ladylotus
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    ha ha Glen. Just go back when it's dark. Darkness makes it easier. he he. I had mulched all my tender roses with compost, sand and peat moss. We had two days with 40 - 50 mph wind gust and all the peat blew out off the top of the sand compost mix. I will have to go out and add some more peat or perhaps pile some woodchips on these dawg gone roses again.

    Tj