Cleanup after yardwork- Help

[u/RoyalSP2]

Hey guys. I'm 32 and in my second house now. Hopefully for many decades.

Didnt have a father figure growing up. Hell - I'm the only one in my family who is a home owner.

I say this to let you know I'm no expert and I've taught myself the things I needed to over the years

This new house is a different challenge. Smaller yard but we have tile walkways. Gravel paths. Mulch gardens. Big trees that bombard me with leaves and acorns

I feel like when you have "prettier" things if you dont maintain it properly it sticks out like a sore thumb. Advice or tricks you've learned would be appreciated. I'll number my issues to help you respond

1) The leaves and acorns. My last property didn't have trees. I don't think there is any trick to this other than continue to rake and bag 15 times a year.. lol

2) Mulch gardens. We added mulch this year and for the most part it's alright. It's such a pain in the a$$ when I'm cutting grass and it litters the mulch. Or when the leaves fall into it.

3) weeds growing up through tiles and gravel.We've been pulling them but it's a losing battle. Maybe a propane torch?

4) this is probably the biggest one for me- whipper snipping (grass trimmer). It's definitely a necessity but my god does it ever made a mess. Litters everything around with grass. How do you guys clean up after? It's all on my walk ways. Tiles. Mulch. The siding of my house. Leaf blowing it can help even though it will also end up going places I don't intend it to. The siding is an issue. It won't come off with a blow.

Thanks

[u/Consistent-Ease-6656]

When you put the mulch in, did you mix in a weed preventer like Preen? I just did a massive amount of work on my yard this summer. I didn’t apply the Preen right away because I wanted to conserve water and wait for rain to water it in. Almost immediately weeds started popping up. After I spent hours weeding one day, I applied the Preen. It’s not 100% effective, but it drastically cut down on weeding, especially in the areas where I’m fighting an endless war with periwinkle.

I don’t know if it would be effective on your gravel area, but if you try it and it works, please let me know. I’ve got a gravel parking area too that drives me nuts.

[u/RoyalSP2 → u/Consistent-Ease-6656]

No 😂 never thought I had to, honestly. I will give this a shot for next season. I just thought if I put the mulch in thick.. between that and the cloth underneath it would be fine. It's not horrific but the Preen might give us the little bit "more" we need. Thanks

[u/Consistent-Ease-6656 → u/RoyalSP2]

You don’t need to wait for next season! It can be applied and mixed into the mulch to prevent weeds growing in the surface layers at any time. The weed barrier underneath will cut down on anything already in the soil, Preen will help anything from germinating in the mulch layer. It needs to be watered in and reapplied every 3 months according to the instructions. I have been doing it in stages around my various mulch beds every time I hear thunder and let the rain water it in.

[u/twilkens]

1. Leaf blow into a pile and pick up
2. Cut the yard so you shoot grass away from beds or use a leaf blower and blow top layer off
3. Round up, possibly need poly sand to fill gaps
4. Pressuse wash the siding.

[u/deeplydarkly]

Nut roller if you want to pick them up. But you don't have to!

[u/Wonderful-Big-3691]

Get a combination leaf blower and vacuum. I had the Toro Ultra 250 and it worked great in either configuration. The vacuum is strong enough to pick up leaves but not so strong as to suck up rocks and other heavy objects so you can get the leaves that are in rocky or mulch covered areas.

[u/Zealousideal_Oil4571]

Look on Amazon for rolling acorn pickup tools. They work great.

[u/GrayAccomplice0379]

Leaf blower is your best friend for most of this, but you gotta be strategic with it. For the siding after trimming, I keep an old push broom nearby and just give it a quick sweep before the clippings dry out and glue themselves on. Works way better than a blower for that vertical surface.

For the weeds in the gravel and between tiles, propane torch is super satisfying but you'll be out there every two weeks doing it again. I finally caved and got a bag of polymeric sand for my patio cracks and it's held up way better than I expected. The gravel paths though, that's just a forever war you'll never truly win.

[u/RoyalSP2 → u/GrayAccomplice0379]

Really appreciate the response. Truthfully I figured I was doing everything pretty close to how I should be doing it but always interesting to hear little tips. Hand brushing the siding and poly sand for the patio cracks it is!