Nearly equal numbers of Patch readers who responded to our fall lawn cleanup survey either rake and bag their leaves or let them naturally decompose over the winter. Mowing and mulching was the most popular choice of 30.3 percent of respondents. (Shutterstock),
ACROSS AMERICA — Leaf blowers were the least favorable method of dealing with fall leaves among 1,290 Patch readers who responded to our informal Block Talk survey, and more than twice as many people said they prefer to mulch them with a mower.
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Nearly equal numbers of people rake and bag them or leave them until spring to deal with. The second-most popular choice behind mulching leaves was “something else.”
Composting was a popular choice among those people.
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“I mow the lawn portion of my yard, leave the leaves in all the flower beds until fall,” said Across America Patch reader Shellie. “Then I rake them out in the spring after the butterflies have hatched and I compost them.”
Linda, a Huntley (Illinois) Patch reader, is a mow-and-mulch person. Her neighbor, not so much.
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“It’s terrible,” Linda said. “He burns what leaves he can for hours, so we get the smoke and smell in our house. The rest he leaves for me.”
New Lenox (Illinois) Patch reader Brett can empathize.
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“Ban leaf burning,” Brett said. “It makes the air toxic in my neighborhood every fall, and it’s so 20th century!”
‘A Leaf Cleanup Cult’
But about those gas-powered blowers: New Jersey reader “Fed Up With Obsessed Leaf Cleaner” and others cut loose on lawn warriors who set out on a recognizance mission the moment a leaf swirls to the ground.
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“They are all obsessed with doing their leaves multiple times a day. It’s like a full-time job for them as they are out before 6 a.m., several times a day, and after dark,” said Fed Up, who reads Cranford Patch and Clark-Garwood Patch. “I feel like I live surrounded by a leaf cleanup cult, as once a few leaves fall, they are all back out there daily again.”
“Every leaf is like an invader that must be vanquished immediately with a leaf blower,” said Patch reader Diane. “I wait until all the leaves have fallen and then have a landscaper mulch them. I think that infuriates my neighbor because sometimes my leaves blow across the street into his yard.”
“You don’t need a SWAT team of detrimental blowers on such a tiny plot of ground,” said Oakland (New Jersey) Patch reader Peter.
Once it falls, “no leaf shall remain longer than an hour,” said Kate, a Plymouth-Whitemarsh (Pennsylvania) Patch reader.
“I saw someone the other day chasing after four leaves in the street with a blower for 10 minutes,” said Kim, an Abington (Pennsylvania) Patch reader.
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An Upper-Class Cop-Out
And then there’s the clandestine blower.
“My neighbor likes to use his leaf blower to get leaves off his lawn and on to ours, so we have more to rake and bag,” Patch reader Nana said. “Of course, he waits til we are out of town so we can’t catch him. Other neighbors see him, though. So sad.”
And entitled, according to Abington (Pennsylvania) Patch reader Carol. She rakes and shreds leaves for composting, but her neighbor hires a professional landscaping company. She feels bad for the employees who have to use the “ear-splitting and polluting leaf blowers.”
Her neighbors’ method is “very harmful to the low-income workers who have to inhale the pollution and damage their hearing,” Carol said. “It is an upper-class cop-out so they don’t have to experience these negative effects themselves.”
Redwood City-Woodside (California) Patch reader Bob isn’t happy, either.
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“All my neighbors have gardeners with high-power blowers that blow dirt, pollen and pollutants into the air to settle somewhere else,” Bob said.
A handful of states and cities are looking at bans on leaf blowers and other gas-powered lawn equipment.
“Put an end to these monsters!” Chloe, who reads Upper Dublin Patch and Lower Gwynedd-Ambler-Whitpain Patch, both in Pennsylvania, said of gas blowers.
An Ardmore-Merion-Wynnewood (Pennsylvania) Patch reader who goes by “Reeling from the Cacophony” had more than a bit to say about the gas blowers used by the parks and recreation department, calling it “complete madness.”
‘I Have To Leave’
Blowers are a “huge source of noise and air pollution with four to six blowers going at once for hours on end, making it impossible to enjoy spring and fall weather,” Reeling said.
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East Atlanta Patch reader Stephanie heard that — or would have heard that if not for the din of leaf blowers.
“The yard service company my neighbor uses simultaneously has two or more gas blowers from several workers going at once. It makes conference calls from home impossible. Emissions are horrible,” she said. “It’s all so frustrating and I really wish gas blowers could be banned nationwide for properties less than one acre due to their emissions.”
Tracy, who reads Ardmore-Merion-Wynnewood Patch and Haverford-Havertown (Pennsylvania) Patch, flees the high-pitched hum.
“The gas blowers on my street are loud and smell bad and, honestly, I get so upset and nervous that I have to leave the area,” Tracy said. “I walk one-fourth mile, and can still hear the noise. I wish there were a law banning them. Sometimes they blow four times a week.”
“Leaf blowers are completely unacceptable in urban neighborhoods,” said Brooklyn (New York) Patch reader Roz. “They are noisy and polluting. They also make the leaves somebody else’s problem.
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“In New York City, the street cleaning machines don’t pick up leaves efficiently, especially when wet, so residents need to take responsibility for what falls on the sidewalk and in front yards,” Roz said.
Fay, who reads Newport (Rhode Island Patch and West Village (New York) Patch, agrees with Roz.
“Leaf blowers do not belong in urban environments,” Fay said. “I watch the leaves blow right back after the blowing has finished. The sound is deafening and disturbs the peace.”
‘Move To Another Country!’
Pft, said a Hatboro-Horsham (Pennsylvania) Patch reader with 77,000 square feet of backyard space to maintain and keep clean.
“I mow over all the leaves with a 50-inch, zero-turn Cub Cadet and let the earth worms enjoy and eat the leaf fragments,” the person said, then took a sharp left, imagining something rather apocalyptic involving electric and driverless cars and ending with a dead dog.
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“As soon as Elon Musk gets his way,” the reader continued, “I will buy an electric, automatic mower which will likely either have a lithium battery explosion, run out of control to the new mini-mansion development next to my house and run over the $50,000 French poodle owned by a Tesla Roadster owner.
“At least my 50-inch Cub Cadet 25 horsepower gasoline mower has a beer can holder, so I don’t give a flying tweet, tweet, tweet.” (Yes, we saw what Cub Cadet dude did there.)
The blowback from the blower gang — about 13.9 percent of survey respondents — was similarly fiery.
“Rake yours by hand and pretend you’re saving the planet,” said Across New Jersey Patch reader Donald. “Then take a ride in your electric car mined with minerals by slave labor destroying the earth, which will be a huge failure, just like the offshore windmills are.”
People who don’t like gas blowers should “get over it or move to another country,” said Patch reader Sue.
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“The intermittent noise of a blower is worth the clean neighborhood appearance and my not having to clean up errant leaves from my neighbor,” she said. “It’s a seasonal thing, much less use than lawnmowers.”
‘Very Weird Thinking’
New Yorker Sedona, who reads Carroll Gardens-Cobble Hill Patch and Patchogue Patch, isn’t particular about what method neighbors use, as long as they do something.
“Sweep away from drains and concrete pavements,” Sedona said. “Gather some to compost, and keep the rest as it falls, as long as it does not cover drains and sidewalks.”
Sachem (New York) Patch reader Jane also doesn’t care what method her neighbors use to get rid of leaves “as long as they do.” She doesn’t buy the argument against leaf blowers.
“And you’re worried about the sound of the leaf blowers,” Jane said. “With all these cars and trucks with extra loud mufflers nowadays, that’s what you should be more worried about. It’s horrible and nothing is done about it. They shouldn’t be allowed to pass inspection.”
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Medford (Massachusetts) Patch reader C. rakes and bags the leaves, but is perplexed by a neighbor’s fall action plan, a conspiracy of sorts that involves the entire block.
“He blows them into the street or down the street into the drain,” C. explained. “He said that then the next neighbor blows them down to the next neighbor, and so on and so on. Very weird thinking.”
The Pollinators, Though
Across America Patch reader Joy, among 16.6 percent of survey respondents who leave the leaves where they fall, summed it up this way:
“They know not what they do. Forgive them, Father, for your creatures great and small need those leaves, to sleep in, burrow deep in, hibernating until spring’s thaw. The leaves filter our water as it trickles its way down into underground aquifers. The leaves fertilize the lawns, giving nutrients for free.
“They (humans) know not what they do because they spend thousands of dollars on leaf removal and fertilizer when God gives it to us for a purpose and all for free. And no, leaves do not kill your grass if you leave them over winter. Experiment and see!”
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Amen, said Patch reader Nanci. She thinks removing leaves by any method is “ridiculous,” but irresponsible after the first frost when invertebrates have settled into their homes for the winter.
“Let them be,” she said. “Twenty years ago, homes were not cleaned up and we had more fireflies, butterflies, beetles and native bees. We as a community have a responsibility to protect the insect world that keeps us alive, and our children will have a chance to see the same wonder we grew up with.”
Also, she said, a Luna moth’s cocoon looks like a dried leaf.
“Why would anyone want to destroy that?”
Across Georgia Patch reader Holly has been cleaning up leaves for 23 years. But not this fall.
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“Can we respect the process and allow nature to do its thing? The leaves fall for a reason, and only in one season,” Holly said. “I’m going to leave the leaves on the ground and want to see how my grass looks after the experiment.”
‘A Lazy, Cheap Bum’
Holly’s neighbors might call her bad names, though.
Vienna (Virginia) Patch reader Tim said he mulches his leaves, but his neighbor leaves hers. “She is a lazy, cheap bum,” Tim said.
“They wait until December, then get a landscaper to pick them up and haul them away,” said Newtown (Connecticut) Patch reader Marsha, who said she’d like to call her neighbors out for “laziness.”
“In the meantime, on windy days, they blow onto my pristine lawn,” Marsha said.
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Marsha’s neighbor, George, said his neighbors in Newtown are lazy, too.
“Blowing them into the street — and then they stick and freeze in the street all winter long — and leaving them until spring is the laziest and most annoying thing, making them other people’s problem,” George said.
It’s not her neighbors’ laziness that irks Barnstable-Hyannis (Massachusetts) Patch reader Helen. It’s their attitude. They don’t live there full-time and don’t make arrangements to corral the oak leaves that blow all over the neighborhood onto other people’s property, Helen said.
“Their reasoning is that they do not live here and come to Cape Cod to enjoy their free time and not to do any yard work,” Helen said.
There’s a kicker: “The following spring, they complain about the messy yard containing layers of leaves, located across the street from their driveway,” Helen said.
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‘A Sludgy Mess’
Belmont (Massachusetts) Patch reader Robin, among 16.8 percent of respondents who rake and bag leaves, makes it a family activity.
“Let your kids help!” she said. “Forget hiring a company and get out there!”
Malvern (Pennsylvania) Patch reader Amy rakes and bags, but said many of her neighbors are older and “physically unable to get out there and rake 75+ bags of leaves, so they depend on ‘lawn warriors.’
“I have no problem with that,” she said.
Brooklyn (New York) Patch reader Diane said the people on her block all use handheld leaf blowers and brooms to gather and bag leaves for pickup. They know it’s their responsibility, she said. It’s also pragmatic.
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“A passerby slips and falls in front of your home because of the leaves, you can be sued,” she said.
Columbia (Maryland) Patch reader Ursula, among 30.3 percent of survey respondents who mulches with a mower, then spreads the cut-up leaves under the trees in the backyard. Her neighbors “blow the leaves into the street and leave them there for weeks.”
“Last winter the leaves were left on the street until spring,” Ursula said.” It clogs up the street drain and blows the leaves all over the neighborhood, and we have to continue cleaning our lawns and the street in front of our houses all winter.”
Several readers said their townships and boroughs encourage people to blow or rake their tree debris to the street on designated days, then use special equipment with a powerful vacuum to suck them up and take them away. It’s not universal though.
“Some neighbors blow their leaves into the street, though our township does not pick them up, so they blow onto other lawns, go down the storm drains and/or slowly decompose in place,” said Hellertown-Lower Saucon (Pennsylvania) Patch reader Erin. “It becomes a sludgy mess, especially when wet and then frozen. I don’t care how you handle your leaves as long as it doesn’t affect others.”
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The best practice for blowing is to move them to a pile, then bag them, several readers said. It can’t be an out-of-sight, out-of-mind thing.
“It’s okay,” Woburn (Massachusetts) Patch reader Sandy, a raker and bagger, said of a neighbor’s noisier method, “but they blow the leaves to an area that the wind blows some of them back to my property.”
Can We Talk About Black Walnut Trees?
Across America Patch reader Pat, who rakes and bags leaves, claims to have spent $10,000 this year alone on landscaping to deal with five years’ worth of a neighbor’s black walnut tree leaves, fruit and roots.
“The toxic juglone secreted by all parts of the tree have killed tens of thousands of dollars of my flowering, ornamental, colorful trees and shrubs which gave our bird visitors shelter and gave us privacy on our patio,” the reader said. “I rake and collect the fallen leaves and nuts daily, but very few plants tolerate juglone.
“Dropping 4-ounce, golf ball size walnuts are at risk all summer and many new plants didn’t survive in competition with this forest tree,” the reader said. “The leaves fall in my gutters and juglone spreads into my soil. I’ve offered to pay for the tree removal, but my neighbor is not neighborly.”
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But you’ve heard of “Minnesota Nice,” haven’t you? Apple Valley-Rosemount Patch reader Nancy exudes it.
“Fantastic,” she said of her neighbor’s fall lawn efforts.
And this from Edina (Minnesota) Patch reader Dennis: “I have no problem with my neighbor’s method of removing leaves.”
About Block Talk
Block Talk is an exclusive Patch neighborhood etiquette column addressing common issues or problems — and readers provide the answers. If you have a topic you’d like for us to consider, email [email protected], with Block Talk as the subject line.
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