Tag: fall maintenance

Posted on

Fall Maintenance Chronicles: Tackling Leaves, Hurricanes, and a Leaf-Vacation in Nashville

Written November 7, 2024

Hello Dear Readers,

Near Thanksgiving day, our trees start to lose their dry clothing. They dropped so many leaves that there were so many to vacuum today. There were more leaves this year. A recent Hurricane brought a few windy days, and the wind carried the leaves from our neighbors. Due to our garbage bin being full of leaves from Tuesday’s collection session, I elected to skip today’s session as there’s nowhere to put them.  

Since October, we have had hurricane after hurricane. Hurricanes don’t hit Nashville directly, but our weather seems to sing along with them. We get the rain and wind. There is rain forecasted for this weekend, which may make leaf collection next week a bit more difficult, but I’ll do what I can.

In the future, we may want to get an extra garbage bin to hold a bag to dump leaves into.  We have some bags I could use, but throwing the leaves into an unsupported bag would be a lot of trouble.  So, today will be my vacation from leaf gathering, and I may have to pay for it next week.  Maybe I’ll be lucky, and the wind will magically blow all our leaves away without blowing new ones in to replace them.

Leaf vacuuming is one necessary maintenance task. When old leaves turn into soil, it creates unwanted deposits between concrete. Despite my work, there were weeds on the driveway. We had to weed them and clear them out with a power washer before damaging our driveway further. Besides, these dry trees make our front yard messy, so I want to keep them as neat as possible. 

Fortunately, leaf vacuuming is not as hard as lawn mowing, and the weather is more tolerable now than in summer. The days have gotten shooter, and winter will show up quickly. The trees in the backyard have lost most of their tree already. There will be 2-3 weeks of leaf vacuuming. Of course, we may get a rare snowstorm, which hit us every year for all 6 years we lived in Nashville. For now, I will enjoy this leaf vacation.

Posted on

Lawn Care, Falling Leaves, and Easy Fall Chores

Written 8/27/2024

Hello Dear Readers,

As autumn slowly arrives in Nashville, I can feel the subtle shift in the air and see signs of the season’s change. The once rapidly growing grass has largely ceased its energetic push toward the sky, and the cooler weather has made everything feel a bit more relaxed. With the recent lack of rainfall, the trees have already started shedding their leaves earlier than expected. It’s a sight that marks the beginning of a new chapter for the landscape, with dried leaves decorating the ground and the lawn no longer demanding as much attention.

The lack of rain and the cooler temperatures have significantly prevented the lawn from its usual growth spurt. That’s why I decided to skip mowing for the first time in months. The grass didn’t look eager to grow, and with the season transitioning, it felt like a good time to pause. However, if you know Nashville’s weather, you know it’s unpredictable. While it might feel like the mowing season is over, there’s always the chance that a warm front will come through, pushing the grass into a final burst of growth before winter sets in. I’ll have to keep monitoring it over the next few weeks, reassessing as I go to see if the lawn needs one last cut or if we can officially retire the mower for the year.

Mowing the lawn has been a key part of my summer routine, but other outdoor chores take center stage as the season changes. The fallen leaves are already creating a patchwork carpet across the yard. As they pile up, they’ll need to be dealt with before they get wet and decompose, making them even more challenging to clear away. Leaf removal is a task that only intensifies as autumn progresses, and I’ll have my hands full before long.

Meanwhile, my wife has taken the initiative to tidy up around the house by tackling the wedding on the weekends. Weeding is another job that tends to escalate this time of year, so I’ll likely join her efforts this week to help ensure everything stays in shape.

We’re bracing for temperatures to spike again, with forecasts predicting highs over 100°F (38°C) on Thursday and Friday. My wife isn’t thrilled about the heatwave. Still, she’s already set on tackling another big project—power washing the siding, deck, and driveway. It’s a daunting task in such extreme weather, but it will be rewarding to have everything looking fresh and clean as we move into fall.

With the changing season comes new challenges and responsibilities, but it’s all part of maintaining our home as we welcome autumn in Nashville.