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http://www.durgan.org/URL/?DUQHM 7 November 2011 Mulching leaves with Lawnmower.

All the leaves on my property are mulched with the lawnmower and left where they fall. The lawnmower grass exit port is held closed with a self tapping screw. The pile of leaves are run over by slightly lifting the front of the lawnmower, and the leaves are instantly chopped into small pieces. They are left where they fall for fertilizer. It is not necessary to put the leaves in a pile, but it simplifies matters by doing so.

Personally, I use the lawnmower to pick them up and then use the leaves and the grass clippings for chicken bedding. They love it.

Zoe

Yes I like mowing them and love seeing them mixed up with the grass cuttings. Prefer to compost the mixture though. Seems a waste on grass to me.

seasidegirl wrote:Yes I like mowing them and love seeing them mixed up with the grass cuttings. Prefer to compost the mixture though. Seems a waste on grass to me.

I don't have enough leaves to bother picking up. They give some fertilizer for the grass, which is all it gets.

My house is on a corner so I get quite a lot. They blow along the straight pathway and then in my gate when they reach the corner. I like them.

Your worms will be nice and fat anyway.

My neighbour had raked all his leaves, in his almost entirely grassed large garden, into piles and a week or so later they were still there - some on the roadside verge. I asked him if he was going to use them and if not, could I have them please. They are now all bagged up and going to turn into lovely leafmould for my growing beds. Don't you just love things for free!

Well done Henwoman, I bet your neighbour was pleased as well to get rid of them. Aren't some people odd!

Zoe

just like to second this ! it's VERY effective! i switched from just raking up the leaves to mowing them up and now the second batch are so much more like compost than the first lot which are still leaf like looking.

Not a good idea in orchards though, it spreads overwintering fungus diseases like scab.
If you suspect even a tiny amount of scab, apple and pear leaves should be raked up and burnt.

Thomzo wrote:Personally, I use the lawnmower to pick them up and then use the leaves and the grass clippings for chicken bedding. They love it.

Zoe

Our chucks love this as well, although we don't use it as bedding. We put it in a big pile at one end of their run and they'll spend hours scratching through it, eating it. Our girls seemed to have toilet trained themselves and mainly poo in one part of their house which then goes in the compost. So in a round about way I suppose our grass clippings do end up on the compost albeit in a "processed" manner.