I have to admit, I don’t do a lot of raking. This is not some grand gesture on my part to provide a place for small critters to live safely for the winter. I will admit, that makes a great excuse, but I generally don’t have to use it.
I don’t rake for a very different reason. The leaves in my back yard refuse to fall.
This isn’t a rare occurrence. I just seem to have trees that don’t like to be naked. They hang on to their leaves until the last possible moment. Usually until we get near that first snowfall of the season, so they can fall to the lawn and dare me to come after them. So I let them play their little game.
If a few do come down, I may move them from the lawn to cover some of the garden areas, just to provide a little extra winter cover for some of the plants, but otherwise, I tend to leave them alone and collect them up in the spring.
The really strange thing? I actually like to rake. I enjoy being outside in the fresh air, getting a little exercise, but my trees conspire against me.
It does seem that my little protected back yard is a bit warmer than some other areas. The wind doesn’t get in there much, so maybe the climate is slightly warmer or something. But for some reason, the leaves on the trees in this area seem to like to hang around on the trees. I’m not going to tell them the time has come.
But in spite of my desire to get outside and do something this time of year, I am also happy to provide a spot for various types of insects to spend the winter. Although I’m not sure what sort of insects may be around. It’s probably not the helpful. pollinating kind. It’s more likely the “excuse me while I eat your garden” kind, but, like the leaves, I’ll deal with them in the spring.
For now, the leaves stay unraked. It’s hard to get them if they won’t let go.
