Fall fun

Well ladies and gentlemen the time has come when most people begin their love hate relationship with trees.   Why the love hate relationship you ask?  Well most people love seeing the fall colours that the trees produce and now is the time for the best local apples!!!   But the love doesn't seem to last too long.  The window of the beautiful tree to that pesky tree that won't stop dropping leaves is short!!!   

Trees turn these beautiful colour because they're beginning to shut down for the winter.  The sun isn't hot enough for them to continue to photosynthesis during the winter months so they begin shutting down. The tree isn't dead at all!!! in fact there is a lot going on in a tree during the winter months.  It's busy turning the left over food it has into new growth, leaf buds and flower buds. After the chlorophyll has broken down you're left with other pigments that are there during the summer but the green chlorophyll over powers those colours that remains in the leaves.

Now the hard work!  The clean up of those beautiful fall colours.  In some areas you can collect your leaves and put them at the curb and the city will come and pick them up.  They compost the leaves and other yard waste and usually will have a give away come spring!!!   Other places you're not so lucky and have to deal with it on your own.  Raking is a great way of getting the leaves piled up and into the paper bags.  I think the best way to deal with the leaves is a sucker shredder!  I mulches and bags the leaves and you have to do is empty the bag into what ever package you use to get rid of those pesky leaves!!!   If the leaves are very dry you can usually mulch them up quite fine and use them as an organic for your lawn!!!

Enjoy the beautiful colours in the next couple of weeks, it'll be raking before you know it.  And we all know what comes after raking leaves, the dreaded S word.  So get out there and enjoy the trees!