The Unwanted Gift of Extra Fallen Leaves

It’s leaf blowing season. You can hear it all around, all day. My yard people came today and blew my leaves. It took them a couple of hours. I know because the sound was deafening as I was making Turkey stock for gravy and setting the Thanksgiving table. I know why they were here today…they wanted my house to be nice for Thanksgiving. For that I am grateful.

We are an oddity around here. We have natural areas on our property where I am happy for the yard guys to blow the leaves and leave for composting. We have trees and forest that we have kept natural, rather than a fully landscaped piece of property where one fallen leaf really sticks out. Not all our property is natural and where it is manicured I like it to be leaf free too.

Today after my yard guys finished the Herculean job of moving leaves I had an hour or two of quiet. Then the leaf blowers started up again. Neighbor’s yard guys were doing the same thing that mine had done. As I was cooking I looked out the window and noticed leaves being blown into my leaf free yard from my neighbor’s yard. As these are superior neighbors, who happen to be away I went over to talk to their yards guys myself.

I asked them not to just blow my neighbor’s leaves into my yard. They guy looked at me and said, “Our truck is full and we have no place else to put them.” I was not in the mood for that ridiculous kind of thinking and told him so.

So many times I am driving home and I see a yard guy blowing leaves across the street from the house they take care of to the one on the other side, which they do not. I am certain that this would be frowned upon by the person receiving the gift of extra leaves.

Please talk to your yard people and provide them with a place to put your leaves or ensure they take ALL OF THEM WITH THEM. Giving them to your neighbors is most certainly not what you pay them to do.