Indian Summer

 Today's post is brought to you by the color Yellow.

We have been enjoying a week of beautiful weather.  It is officially Indian Summer because we had a light frost on Monday morning. That was enough to give the falling leaves a little incentive to get a move on.  We blew leaves for the second time on Tuesday.  Mowed the lawn.  Washed the mower.  My husband scraped the deck, put sharp blades on and plugged it into the battery tender.  Summer is officially over here.

The maple tree by the firepit always drops tons a beautiful, soft leaves.  I blew a huge drift of them away the other day (what a waste) so I woke up this morning with one intent: suck up the maple leaves to save for mulch next year.  Hubby blew them into drifts for me and I sucked up six sucker bags full and dumped them into the wheelbarrow.  This allows me to run them through the chopper a second time.  A finer chop means that when I use these to top dress my containers and raised beds, fewer leaves will blow away and I will have less mess in the garden.  They will also break down into compost faster.

Whatever didn't fit into the wheelbarrow this time was blown into the wooded area.

I now have enough leaves to use next year and what I don't use as mulch will get mixed into next summer's compost at the end of the season.

The thing about leaves.  As you are blowing, they are coming down around you.

Not clean and tidy

I had a good pile of leaves left from last year and those have been incorporated into this summer's yard and kitchen waste to lighten the mix.  I've just about turned this pile one complete time and it is looking good.

I will have plenty of compost ready in the spring to dress the beds before planting.

Still pretty