Inland Northwest Gardening

November 21, Spokane WA

The leaves are gone now, scattered all over the place by the winds. The pine needles are pretty much down out of the trees. At our house that means two over 50ish folks have to tag team cleaning out the gutters so they will drain and won’t be around for fire season next year.  I hold the ladder and he cleans.

As much as I like ponderosa pine as the perfect native tree for our climate, the needle issue is a pain. With the gutters done there is still the back yard covered with needles and grass that hadn’t been cut since August - OK! I write about gardens - mowing in a timely manner isn’t part of the schedule. 

So here’s my solution. On a day dry enough to mow, I put the side discharge chute on the mower and then simply mow all the grass and needles into a winrow. I start down the middle of the lawn and cut it so that all the grass and needles blow in the same direction and eventually form a long pile at the side of the yard. Becuase the grass and needles are in a pile it takes half the time to rake it up.

So what do I do with all this? I’m too cheap to buy bark mulch at $20-something a yard so I use it to mulch shrub and garden beds. This does a couple of things, it sazes me money and it will help keep those pesky early spring weeds from coming up too fast in the spring.  Mind you I don’t put pine needle mulch in beds near the house because they can be a fire hazard during fire season. The needles will last about as long a bark.

What are some of your work saving tips? Let me know.

Have a good Thanksgiving holiday