In late summer the deciduous trees start shedding leaves and continue to do so throughout the autumn. One of the most picturesque times of year. All those vibrant colours overhead in the tree canopies whilst out walking. Reds, yellows, orange and gold.

From a grounds maintenance point of view, the leaves are wonderful in the trees, but become a problem for a number of reasons once they have dropped and started to accumulate on the ground.

Leaves strewn across driveways, paths and patios not only look unsightly, but soon accumulate into piles which become a slippy trip hazard once the rain has come. Often they end up washed into drains where they slowly rot down into leaf mould.

Leaf mould is the number one reason why outside drains become totally blocked. The compressed leaf mould is often so tightly bound up that clearing rods are not enough and pressure washing is what is required to blast through the blockage. An expensive operation !

Keeping driveways, paths and other hard areas clear of leaves prevents slips and trips, protects your drainage system from expensive maintenance costs and generally keeps the site looking neat and tidy.

Leaves allowed to accumulate on lawns also cause problems.

Firstly they attract worms. Earthworms eat decaying plant and animal matter, such as leaf litter. In the autumn they rise to the surface grab hold of a leaf and then pull it down into the soil to feed on it.

If you look at your lawn closely during the autumn you will often notice, dotted here and there, an individual leaf sticking out of the lawn, like a little flag, with the stalk downwards. This is a leaf that has been partially dragged down into the soil by a worm and then abandoned. Leaves left on the lawn encourage worms to rise to the surface to take advantage of this abundant food source. The problem is the increase in the number of worm casts that now appear on the surface of the lawn.

Worm casts are small heaps of muddy soil ejected from the digestive tract of some species of earthworm. Earthworm activities are beneficial in gardens, for both soil structure and in nutrient recycling. In the warmer months worm casts can be tolerated as they often dry out quickly and dissipate naturally, or with the action of mowing or brushing.

Worm casts during the cooler wetter months are undesirable. The wet weather means that the casts remain in place, then the casts get squashed and spread over the surface by trampling feet or lawnmowers. This kills the grass underneath and creates a place where mosses and lawn weeds can establish. The more worm casts the more spots in your lawn where the turf is damaged and deteriorated.

Finally, piles of leaves block photosynthesis. If leaves remain in place it only takes a week to 10 days for the grass underneath to start turning an unsightly yellow. If the leaves are not removed the grass will surely die and the result is a bare and uneven patch in your beautiful lawn. Weeds and mosses will soon take advantage of this absence of grass to establish themselves.

To summarise allowing the build up of leaf litter on your lawn undoes all the good work that has been completed during the growing season. All that mowing and weeding and feeding. All those hours of work. Leaf clearing lawns not only protects the turf, but ensures that during those bleak winter months, when there is little verdant green to look at, at least the lawn still looks good.

Straight Hedges offer a leaf clearing service at a very reasonable cost. Only £26 will get you a whole hour of leaf clearing. And since we use cordless battery-powered blowers, there are no noisy petrol blowers running at 8:00 am on a Sunday morning !

We will quickly collect up all the leaf litter. Dead leaves make a great composting material and rot down quickly. However, if you do not wish to add the collected leaves to your existing compost bin we will quite happily remove them off-site at no extra cost.

While on site we are more than happy to include the blowing out and clearing of the drainage gulleys on your driveway !

If you think that you might benefit from our leaf clearing offer then take advantage of our free demonstration. Up to 30 minutes of leaf clearing absolutely free of charge. To order your free demonstration simply pick up the phone and contact 07783 492 037 by text or voice message. Clearly state your name and address and ask for your free leaf clearing demonstration. Someone will contact you within 24 hours to arrange a suitable date and time.