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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
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    Leaf Raking Etiquette?

    New homeowner here....

    In most Seattle neighborhoods, there is a planting strip between the sidewalk and the street that the city owns but the homeowner maintains.

    Well... there is a massive tree in the planting strip in front of my house....

    What is the rule of thumb for how far I need to chase these leaves?

    I cleared the sidewalk and gutter flow line in front of my house, through both adjacent neighbors. But this tree is massive, and these leafs can be found throughout the block...

    WWMD?

    Or just post your rants about your neighbors lack of raking , or firing up the stihl blower at 6am on a Sunday...



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    Best Skier on the Mountain
    Self-Certified
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    Squaw Valley, USA

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
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    写道
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    In Los Angeles, Mexico, gardeners blow all the leaves and dust into the street, which is illegal, but never enforced. Saw it all the fucking time. But at least they no longer allow plastic straws in restaurants!
    Daniel Ortega eats here.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Dec 2012
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    I can still smell Poutine.
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    Blow the leaves onto the neighbors lawn.

  4. #4
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    Jan 2019
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    59715
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    You're supposed to rake them up?

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Feb 2012
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    10,870
    You are responsible for every leaf that comes off your tree no matter how far it travels, your leaf your responsibility.




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  6. #6
    Join Date
    Feb 2004
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    driven way past the Stop and Shop
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    3,067
    Just the red ones
    Damn, we're in a tight spot!

  7. #7
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    Feb 2008
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    here and there
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    Let the wind blow them to Mexico.

    You should also go around and pick up all the red ones by hand and spell out funny words on your lawn for our amusement.
    watch out for snakes

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
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    SE USA
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    OP, at least were I am, you rake the leaves in your yard. period. My accross the street neighor has a huge stand of massive trees that shed in my front yard bigtime. I'm sure at some point/place trees on my land shed on some neighbors. Sometimes I blow a small reisdiual amount into the nieghbor-accross-the-street's curb, but I'll also take up a much larger volume into my bags/cans from his curb area, if that makes sense. Said something to him last year just to make sure It doesn't piss him off.

    Problem here are massive pine trees are everywhere and come down from time to time so you kinda have to be preemptive with the tree service. Which isn't cheep.
    "Can't you see..."

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
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    19,804
    Do a half ass job till all the leaves have fallen or you are just wasting energy.

    Get a gutter blower attachment. Works like a champ.

    https://www.homedepot.com/p/Toro-Gut...iABEgLTD_D_BwE


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  10. #10
    Join Date
    Dec 2012
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    17,706
    My neighbor just put up an acre's worth of fence around her yard so her ill behaved dogs can roam free and bark at stuff. I blow all my leaves onto her lawn and hit the dogs in the face with a 100mph blast of air and maple leaves. It's a good ol' time.
    "timberridge is terminally vapid" -- a fortune cookie in Yueyang

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
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    Seattle
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    Raking leaves seems like a massive waste of time to me. Yeah, clear your sidewalks and sewer drains, but otherwise let 'em decompose in place.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Sep 2016
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    372
    Mulching mower is your friend. Mulch them and leave them.

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by The AD View Post
    Raking dead hookers seems like a massive waste of time to me. Yeah, clear your sidewalks and sewer drains, but otherwise let 'em decompose in place.
    FIFY
    watch out for snakes

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Dec 2016
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    In a van... down by the river
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    Quote Originally Posted by Millsie1 View Post
    Mulching mower is your friend. Mulch them and leave them.
    This. They're really good fertilizer.

  15. #15
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    Did God need a fucking lawnmower to deal with that shit before we came along? Fuck no.

  16. #16
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    Mar 2006
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    Quote Originally Posted by I Skied Bandini Mountain View Post
    Did God need a fucking lawnmower to deal with that shit before we came along? Fuck no.
    I don’t want smelly goats roaming the hood

  17. #17
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    Oct 2003
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    Seattle
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    Quote Originally Posted by 4matic View Post
    I don’t want smelly goats roaming the hood
    Oh, come on. Even more great fertilizer.

  18. #18
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
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    Movin' On
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    Quote Originally Posted by 4matic View Post
    Do a half ass job till all the leaves have fallen or you are just wasting energy.

    Get a gutter blower attachment. Works like a champ.

    https://www.homedepot.com/p/Toro-Gut...iABEgLTD_D_BwE


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    My next door neighbor and I have some kind of trees who's leaves fall early. Everyone else on my street have trees that get rid of their leaves about a month later.

    Next door neighbor and I used to be on top of getting our leaves cleaned up, but every year we end up with everyone else's leaves in our yards a couple weeks later so we have stopped raking anything until all the leaves come down.

  19. #19
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    Jan 2008
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    Quote Originally Posted by The AD View Post
    Raking leaves seems like a massive waste of time to me. Yeah, clear your sidewalks and sewer drains, but otherwise let 'em decompose in place.
    Yeah - for sure. This is what I am doing. Leave them to decompose in the planters, mow them with the grass. But previous owner literally did nothing. I pulled 2” of decomposed leaves out of the street gutter when I moved in.

    Quote Originally Posted by Marshall Tucker View Post
    Problem here are massive pine trees are everywhere and come down from time to time so you kinda have to be preemptive with the tree service. Which isn't cheep.
    I need to look into this... if the city owns the tree buts it’s on my maintained section of the planting strip, am I responsible?


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    Best Skier on the Mountain
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  20. #20
    Join Date
    Dec 2016
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    Quote Originally Posted by I Skied Bandini Mountain View Post
    Did God need a fucking lawnmower to deal with that shit before we came along? Fuck no.
    It helps cut down on the neighbor-bitching that invariably comes along if you just leave the leaves. Mulched leaves don't travel nearly so readily.

  21. #21
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
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    General Sherman's Favorite City
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    Back when I did leaf cleanup in my yard I would put the bag on the mower and suck/mulch them up that way once a week. Our yard looked perfect throughout the fall.

    Then I realized what a stupid waste of time that was because all of my neighbor’s leaves would just blow into our yard. So the next year I thought I’d wait until all the leaves in the neighborhood fell then pick em up with the mower. Well then it decided to get cold and rain for a month after which I had no interest in picking up leaves. Fast forward to spring and the leaves that had sat in place all winter created a million dead spots in the lawn that weeds and other undesirables took advantage of in the following weeks. I spent the next few months wasting time and money fixing that damned lawn all because of the previous fall’s leaves.

    That’s when I decided to hire Elver and his crew to just pick the f’ing leaves up when they come down. I’ve been much happier since.

    TL;DR, hire Elver to pick up the leaves.
    I still call it The Jake.

  22. #22
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    Aug 2013
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    Quote Originally Posted by nickwm21 View Post
    I need to look into this... if the city owns the tree buts it’s on my maintained section of the planting strip, am I responsible?


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    Where I grew up the town’s easement extended 10 or 15 feet from the street into the yard. Didn’t matter if the tree was in that area, still your responsibility if in the yard.

  23. #23
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    Mar 2012
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    The Bull City
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    Around here we blow/rake them to the curb and city trucks come by and vacuum them up from there. Some folks rake them in to a pile and burn them. That doesn't always end well..
    Go that way really REALLY fast. If something gets in your way, TURN!

  24. #24
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    Jan 2008
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    truckee
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    In my neighborhood all the leaves blow to my side of the street. I should have sued the realtor for failure to disclose. (Rake up the leaves on your property and the strip and gutter immediately in front of your house, No need to clear the leaves from the neighbors. A big tree is a neighborhood benefit.)

  25. #25
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    Mar 2008
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    northern BC
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    Never rake, just wait till the leaves all fall then run over them with the lawn mower, leave the shredded leaves where they fall, the rain & snow will pound it into the lawn pretty quick

    Its also time to thro some fuel conditioner in the Lawnmower & weed eater and make sure the snowblower starts
    Lee Lau - xxx-er is the laziest Asian canuck I know

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