I have had such a lovely afternoon

Monica Your afternoon indeed sounds lovely, and I am not being provocative, but I must question your taking of the leaves to the tip......what about all that gorgeous leaf mould that in several years' time you can use to mulch your shrubs and perennials??

Yes. Outdoor tasks can be very rewarding, and give a huge sense of well being onto the bargain.

Agree about that lead mould though!

Oh that would be my idea of lovely afternoon too

Oh exactly what we have been doing. Three massive builders bags and 8 bin liners full of lovely leaves all left to make leaf mound. The fact there was not even the hint of a Breese made it so easy too. It is absolutely freezing out there now though.

You're right about outside jobs being rewarding, good post M0nica.
Today here was cold damp and miserable, but yesterday, beautifully sunny, we collected some of the potatoes left in the veg. patch. He dug, I collected. And some lovely potatoes as part of the reward.
Tomorrow I MIGHT clear the planters of the summer flowers, some surfinias still in bloom, and prepare the soil in them for winter pansies.
Once you've made that initial effort to get out there, wellies and gloves on, it's all worth it.

We have made lots of leaf mould over the years but the trouble with oak, which is what most of our leaves are, is that there are so many twigs amongst the leaves. DH had to resort to sieving the last lot before we could use it.

Sounds lovely M0nica, I take it you wouldn't like a nice peaceful leaf blower for Christmas?

I'll be joining you tomorrow, it looks like another good day. We've only got little trees now, but it was always a similar mammoth task in the old garden.
Leaf mold does take a long time to break down if you have broad leaved trees. We would have a least 15 bin bags every year and strorage was a problem, so quite a few went to the tip.

jane. Our garden generates 10 or more builders aggregate bags (the really big square ones with great big webbing handles) of leaves each year. I also leave a lot of leaves on the flower and vegetable beds as mulch and, quite simply, we do not have enough space to store all the leaves our garden, front and back collects, for the two or more years it takes the leaves to turn into leaf mold. Even one years collection, 10 x 1 cubic metre + square bags, would take up too much space.

They all go into the green waste bins at the tip so are not wasted but rotted down and sold on to support council funds.

Monica you are an easy lady to please, so, come round here when you are all done and make a start on our lawns? We have so many neighbours trees that lean over our garden that each Autumn we groan.Worse than ever this year, no high winds to blow them away and they sit there wetly, in piles.You could have a really pleasant morning here.

Had I but the time!!

DH was happily collecting leaves today too on a very still day.
Before we moved we used to have a leaf bin with wire mesh sides which never seemed to have much of anything usable in it. We now have a smaller garden with insufficient room for a leaf composting bin so DH decided to use plastic garden sacks.
The leaves he collected earlier this autumn were bagged up in the plastic garden sacks, tops tied and pierced by a few small holes and they are already very nearly ready to use. He opened one bag to top it up and was very surprised at their progress which he puts down to the quantity of leaves generating such heat as well as the fact that he left them in a sunny spot and it has been very sunny on the whole which enables all the microbes to do their stuff. He anticipates being able to use them in the garden next year.

I am reliably informed by our gardener friend that another way to speed things up is to feed the gardener a good steak and allow him to personally 'water' the sacks' contents before they are tied up.

I am not sure whether the gardener in this household responds to steak (although a nice beef casserole would be very acceptable) and as for watering; it is one of the few cases where the male product is superior and comes with a useful pouring spout(grin)

MOnica

Oh Monica that's almost a poem! You could take over from Seanis Heaney. Thanks for sharing it.

It has been a glorious Autumn this year and I have spent many blissful hours raking leaves, tidying the garden and 'Hoovering' up the odd leaves left after raking, with the mower. I cannot remember having stripes on the lawn in late November before!

REALLY appreciate your joy M0nica but mine is more tied up with people even though I am a comparatively keen gardener. I too had a wonderful day yesterday. Lovely lunch with my 93 year old Aunt and four cousins (her offspring). After that I made good use of my wonderful bus pass to meet up with son 2 for a brief period that he managed to pop out of work. After this I made two Important purchases both successfully and without glitch. Unusual! Home to a cosy house and an evening of telly. Oh yesssssss. Life can be very kind in a simple sort of way.

My husband enjoys raking piles of leaves which I then take to the local tip..almost twice every week ! It is some 10 kms away, eachway, so I wish he would keep them for re use on the garden ! He had two leaf blowers but gave them away as he said they were 'useless' (he gave one to a neighbour who complained about our leaves blowing into his garden !) ...now the grassed walkway behind our houses has trees that have grown very large so we also get the leaves from them (as does said neighbour !) I hate to see my husband out there with the now preferred rake, as he is 83 and has difficulty with the garden but refuses to let anyone else (including me !) touch it ...I did surreptiously empty all the baskets and boxes on the walls and buy new winter plants, which I planted whilst he was having his siesta...of course, when he noticed them (around three days later !) he said they were all planted wrongly ...I ignored him ! I have booked a tree man to come and cut the hedges and the large trees in the garden ...he is not happy, and is eyeing up new power tools in the garden centre, and looking longingly at his ladders ....NO NO NO ! trouble is, he is difficult to stop ! I don't want him falling off the ladder and breaking bones or worse ...but short of drugging him or tying him to his chair whats to be done !?

Sounds perfect to me........

Sounds like a perfect day Monica. However, instead of raking leaves why not just leave them for the worms to pull down in to the ground? That is what I do on the garden. The lawn of course is a different matter. I put them in bags, not the compost bin, because Monty Don says that they are great for mixing with potting compost for your new plugs in the spring.

I spent a sunny afternoon trimming back all the perennials that needed cutting back. Haven't been out for days so the fresh air and sunshine cheered me up no end. I do not like winter. Too cold. This morning it was white over and the frost did not go until 4pm. Our garden gets sun at the back from early morning until evening, but the front is always in the shadow of the house. Love my garden and I am busy collecting seeds and splitting clumps for next year.

Have never understood leaf blowers unless you scoop up the leaves after of course but then raking is such good exercise, our council just blows them off the pavement into the road - wind blows - leaves back on pavement ?

I had a far less energetic afternoon. Grandchildren off school due to electricity problems at the school, so we sat and watched 'Miracle on 34th Street' (the Richard Attenborough version) Granddaughter now able to enjoy it and was enthralled start to finish, grandson fell asleep on the sofa for almost the entire film. Absolute bliss, and now feel ready for Christmas!

Same here this afternoon, raking up lots of leaves. It's been a beautiful day again, bright sun and no wind, so ideal for leaf raking. We noticed there are still lots of leaves on the trees though so I think there will be a few more days in the garden before we are confined to indoors.