Is Not Raking Leaves Negligence?
Raking leaves is a common activity in yard maintenance. Even locations known for more temperate conditions, such as Southern California, experience leaf dropping during cooler parts of the year. An abundance of leaves can end up blocking sunlight and other nutrients from your lawn and other plants. While refusing to rake leaves is not negligent in and of itself, you should be aware of the advantages and disadvantages. Does this Spark an idea?
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Advantages
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Leaf raking helps remove foliage from the lawn so the grass still gets a healthy supply of water and sunlight that it needs to thrive. It takes a very thick blanket of leaves to disrupt the growing cycle of grass, but raking eliminates the possibility. Raking also provides exercise. Leaves are effective in compost piles, so raking them can also be a way of getting the leaves into a pile so they can gradually decompose and provide nutrients to your lawn or garden.
Disadvantages
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Raking can be hazardous to people who have a bad back or other health problems, and you should discuss it with your doctor if you have such a condition and want to rake your lawn. Raking leaves also can indirectly damage the local fish population. According to U.S. News and World Report, an abundance of raked leaves in Ohio blew off piles awaiting garbage pickup and ended up blocking storm drains. The leaves then provided sustenance for algae, which ate up the oxygen supply in the water and killed off the fish. Leaving your leaves spread out on your lawn minimizes this risk.
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Alternatives
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Instead of raking your lawn, you can run your mower over the leaves to break them up and redistribute them. The smaller pieces break down faster and provide nutrients to the lawn. Your mower could get clogged attempting this, especially if the leaves are wet, so mow when the leaves are dry and make sure your mower is up to the task. Composting is another possibility; instead of raking the leaves into multiple piles for bagging and removal, you keep a single pile for compost, rotate it periodically and occasionally sprinkle some over your garden.
Legality
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If you have a lot of trees in your yard and neighbors live close by, you can decide to rake the leaves up to prevent them from blowing into a neighbor's yard as a courtesy. However, you have no legal responsibility to do so, since leaves are considered a natural product and outside the realm of your control. A neighbor does have the right to trim or cut any branches from your tree that are hanging over into his yard, as long as he does not encroach on your property to do so or damage the tree in a way that impedes its health. Conversely, if a neighbor's leaves blow into your yard and clog drains or cause other damage, it is your responsibility to rake them up; any damage is not the legal fault of the neighbor.
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References
- Photo Credit leaves image by pearlguy from Fotolia.com
