All the leaves are brown...And I have to pick them up.

This is the view of my original garden as it looked yesterday. We only have one oak on our property but the rest are all very close so they share their leaves with us. I'm so happy that we are getting them up before winter. It's much more difficult in the spring when they are wet and compacted and the irises really don't like being covered at all.



Mom and I brought the riding mower, leaf blower, a few rakes and we got going. I raked while she rode over the leaves mulching and bagging them. It makes much shorter work out of the process. Normally we just rake them up and load them into the truck but that takes about seven trips. This will only take two.

We are a little over half way done now after about two hours of work. All that blank ground you see is where the irises are. Their leaves died prematurely because of all the leaf cover. The rhizomes are fine but they definitely lost some nutrients due of that.

In the far back where the trees are is my shade gardens. They stretch from the left branch tips of the white pine and all the way to the right of the picture. I think this yard is getting shadier every year. My goal is to move everything from here to my new gardens that I started this past summer. It's much sunnier and has way fewer leaves. Plus, they are all maple trees which I like much better.



We always take our leaves down to our little cabin and dump them in the woods. Usually filling in holes or dips in the ground.



The cabin is also where I keep my stash of old windows. I have around 100 as you can see.



I hope to use them for greenhouses, cold frames, decor, etc... We usually have them covered with plastic. I will be getting them covered back up before I go back to NC. They are all set up on 2x4's to keep them off the ground.



This is the two seater outhouse original to the cabin.



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