Raked leaves can be used in a compost bin to capture the nutrients from the decaying leaves.
Written By Anne Raver
I remember when fall meant raking big piles of leaves and jumping into them – reveling in the coolness of the crunchy leaves – and most of all how they smelled.
But I am one of those dinosaurs who grew up before leaf blowers, which fill the air with the smell of gasoline and that high whine that makes me want to scream at just about the same decibel level until it stops. (The guys running them wear ear muffs, so they don’t hear me screaming.)
If it is not leaf blowers, it is mulch mowers, roaring across the lawn, shredding the leaves and sucking them up into a bag.
Nobody has to get a lick of exercise, except lifting one leg over the machine to climb on, and putting the beer or soda pop can in the little holder on the back. And we wonder why Carroll County’s obesity rate is rising (www.healthycarroll.org; click on “vital signs”). It ain’t just the scrapple.
Here’s my radical suggestion: Let’s go back to the rake and the old push cart. Just imagine: A crisp fall day, when the sky is the color of a robin’s egg and it feels good to put on that favorite old sweater. You find the ancient rake behind a century of bicycles, broken sprinklers, decayed bags of lime and banned garden chemicals.
Why not dust off the cobwebs and stride across the leaf-covered lawn to put body and tool to work? (Don’t worry, you’ll remember the motion; it’s imprinted, like riding a bike.)
This is your chance to be a kid again. Make big piles and jump in them. Lie back and bury yourself in those cool, fragrant leaves. (This is when the voice of Dad comes back: “GET OUT OF THOSE LEAVES AND PUT THEM IN THE CART!”)
Seriously, raking up your own leaves and composting them is one way to reduce greenhouse gases. A leaf blower emits sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide, not to mention noise pollution.
Granted, shredded leaves will compost a lot faster than those that go into the pile whole, and if you have a mulch mower, just mow over that leaf-covered lawn and they will be shredded and bagged all at once. Or, if you have a simpler mower, mow over the leaves and rake them up.
Just remember that the emissions from a typical gas-powered push mower, without a catalytic converter, equals that of 11 cars, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Riding mowers produce three times that amount.
So if you must mow, buy a new gas-powered machine with a catalytic converter, or an electric job.
Okay, so now you have the leaves. What’s the best thing to do with them?
Compost them, of course, because decayed leaves are rich in the compounds and nutrients, the fungi and micro-organisms that woody plants, like shrubs, hedges and trees need for healthy growth. Spreading a few inches of this black gold around the base of your old maple tree will work wonders. (And spread them all the way to the canopy edge; this will reduce lawn area and protect roots from compaction or injury by the mower.)
I also use leaf compost in my vegetable garden, mixed with compost from my general pile, which is about 50/50 nitrogen-rich green matter and carbon-rich browns, like leaves, shredded paper, or cut-up stems.
If you do not have a garden or care about feeding your trees, offer the leaves to your neighbors, or take them to Carroll County’s Northern Landfill in Westminster, which is open every day except Sunday and holidays. Hood’s Mill Landfill in Woodbine accepts yard waste on Saturdays. (For hours and regulations for both sites, as well as a lot of information on Carroll County’s waste management, see www.ccgovernment.carr.org/ccg/recycle; 410-386-2035.)
“Although we encourage people to do their own backyard composting, we do have a yard waste pile,” said Charles Ingram, Carroll County’s chief of solid waste. “But we don’t accept anything in plastic bags.”
As an alternative to plastic you can put the leaves in big paper bags (sold at Lowe’s or Home Depot, for example); if you do bring leaves in plastic bags, you must empty them at the site. Tree trimmings are not accepted if more than 8 feet long or 4 inches in diameter.
You may also pick up free mulch there, but be aware that it is a mix of ground up wood, grass and leaves, often not decayed.
“That stuff does not sit around,” said Maria Myers, Carroll County’s recycling manager. “We grind it up and people are sitting there, waiting for it.”
But remember, you do not know what is in that material. People may have sprayed their lawns with weed killer and pesticides. And trees may have been treated for insect infestation or disease. Chemical drift from agricultural fields could also add to the mix.
“It’s fine for a path, but I wouldn’t put it on my vegetables or flower beds,” said Myers. “People just think, Ôfree.’ They have just spent hundreds of dollars on plants, and then they put this free stuff on their flowers. But you have to be careful how you use it.”
Some towns and cities collect leaves in the fall, so call your local department of public works to see if your municipality has such a program.
In Westminster, for instance, residents can simply pile their leaves at the curb on regular collection days, starting Monday, October 4.
The leaves “could blow a little bit,” admitted Wayne Reifsnider, Westminster’s assistant superintendent of public works. “But you could put an old tarp over them. Most people know when we come around anyway, so they don’t put them out too long before.”
That service may continue through the end of November, depending on the weather, he said.
Carroll County also sponsors a yard waste day every Wednesday, from April 1 through November 1, but check with your trash collector to see if it participates.
Plastic bags are not accepted, so leaves and grass must be put in biodegradable paper lawn bags, or in lidless, bushel-sized containers, weighing no more than 75 pounds.
It is illegal, by the way, to put yard waste in with your trash for pickup. So next time you see big plastic bags full of leaves waiting for pickup, whoever put them there is breaking the law.
“That’s a violation of the solid waste ordinance, so handlers will leave it,” said Ingram. “A certain amount of yard waste does get bootlegged in, but it’s not chronic.”
I am always tempted to stop and pick them up, so I can dump the bags on my own leaf pile. But again, I don’t know what kinds of pesticides might be in those leaves. Some break down during the composting process; others do not. So I pass right on by.
