The leaves...

[gerisullivan]

...are out of all but about five feet of the front gutter. The five feet I still can't reach, even with the platform ladder I bought back in June. But most of the gutter is finally clear...before the first snowfall...and the part that was threatening to fall off the house all together is once again nailed into place. It now seems likely to last the winter instead of certain to suffer catastrophic failure in the first big storm.

And I may even be able to wrestle the platform ladder into the rhododendrons and clear out those last few feet. I'll hope to try again in daylight.

While I'm both happy and relieved to have dealt with the immediate problem, I'm even happier to report that the new ladder is a total win. It's the first time I've cleaned that gutter with total ladder comfort and confidence. It's wider than a standard step ladder and has a small platform to stand on. It's far more stable, which comes in really handy on the uneven ground near the house. Easier on the feet, too. Win.

We won't talk about the leaves on the ground. Deal? Deal!

Comments

[don-fitch.livejournal.com]

Seriously, now: leaves on the ground are correctly termed "sheet compost", and anything with the word "compost" in it is Good, right? (And "compote" is also Good, both for eating when fresh and for adding to (sheet or other) compost when past its edibility stage in some non-fermentational way.)

Even more seriously, as I recall, leaves on the ground are kinda bad if they're on top of areas where you're trying to grow grass, and going over the area a couple of times with a lawn-mower might be a good idea to help avoid fungus diseases. (Raking all the leaves and putting them in a compost pile might be best, but it's more work & more time-consuming.)

[gerisullivan.livejournal.com]

So much for that deal... ;-)

Then again, if we weren't talking about leaves on the ground, I wouldn't have just learned the term "Sheet compost," and it's marvelous!

Around here, there's a lot of compost the thickness of a sheet, thick blankie, and lofty comforter combined.

As for going over the grass (and sheet compost) even once with a lawn mower, well, I expect that would work better if said lawn mower actually deigned to start.

I even had it serviced this year, durnitall anyway.

[don-fitch.livejournal.com]

I think "sheet" in this context means something like "flat layer" and is closely related to "lasagna gardening". It's the natural/prehistoric way soil is created, of course, but it doesn't include the heat of a compost pile, which tends to destroy weed seeds & pathogens. I understand It's sometimes also called "lazy gardening" (which is something I tend to be in favor of). But in vegetable gardens I believe that digging with a spading-fork about a foot deep every year creates good soil, much faster. I think someone ... I don't know how accurately .. calculated that natural leaf-fall & sheet-composting creates fertile soil at the rate of about one inch per 100 years. I'm not that patient, and will do a little work to make it one foot per ten years.

[n6tqs.livejournal.com]

"One Pull" serviced the lawnmower, right?

[gerisullivan.livejournal.com]

Yes, it was One Pull. But I'm more inclined to blame my own propensity toward small engine abuse and (quite possibly) a poor purchasing decision in terms of mowers than them.

[voidampersand.livejournal.com]

Deal! Obviously you already know about the many wonderful virtues of mulch.

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

Ah, the joys of home ownership. I haven't even looked in my gutters yet, although there's really only one tree that deposits leaves in them, and it hasn't shed yet. Feels like the trees are shedding later than usual this year.

[thinkum]

Well done!

Posts like this remind me that there are definitely silver linings, to living in an apartment instead of a house... ;-)