And so it begins....

... this year's leafy harvest.

I say harvest.  Harvest has a more positive connotation than working, or raking, or dealing.  Harvest implies something more than effort.  Harvest means a payoff in the end.

When I get through with 'harvest' not only will the leaves be off the lawn, but they will be shredded (for the most part) and used to mulch garden beds.

Yep.

So let the harvest begin.

The usual suspects are already showering their bounty.

Namely the blue and green ash trees, especially since that early frost/freeze.

I'm going to go the same route 'harvesting' as last year.  I wasn't in full health then and needed help.

While I'm in much better health this year, I am opting for the same help.  After all, why the heck not?

Since my friend got one of those zero-turn bagging mowers, his occasional Fall visits make my life so much easier.  My back applauds.

The ash drop is first and major.  He mowed the front lawn, chopping up tons of leaves.  Then I bag up the shreds with my mower and dump them on freshly-weeded beds.

Then there will be a rest before the next drop - sassafras and hickory.  Later still - neighbor trees (mixed) that blow this way.   Then come my silver maples, the magnolia and (alway last and very late) the sweet gums. (I don't count the crabapples, there's no real impact from them.)

Toward the end my friend will have the bagger on HIS mower and he'll be mowing/bagging and I'll have to do is point where they need to be dumped. About then is the only time I need to rake - to smooth out the shredded piles.

Truly the hardest thing I have to do is weed all the beds.  Good grief - my lower back!  The bending, stooping, getting down and up.  That's the real killer.  Thank goodness quite a bit is done.  The front bed, veg bed and swing bed are ready for leaves.

The other beds should be less work - they are filled with zins, not weeds.  It'll probably still ache me up, but I'll have some weeks resting my back until then.  Those blooms (driveway and in the far back) are still bright and beautiful I'll enjoy them until the very end.  Then those beds will be stripped and topped up with the last shredded leaves.

It's a plan.  And really, once a plan is in place, isn't half the battle won?

How about you.  Still doing leaves the same way every year?  Or are you changing up as you figure stuff out.