I’m in the Southeast U.S. and recently moved into a new home. I’ve been working on clearing out a piled-up area in the corner of my yard, where the top layer of soil is covered by 2–4 inches of leaves and sticks.
What’s the best way to clear or mulch this? Can I run my John Deere S140 over it a few times, or will the sticks damage the mower?
I don’t have any wooded areas—my yard is fully fenced in. I’ve been burning everything that’s easy to pick up by hand. Should I burn all the leaves too, or is there a better way to handle them?
The tiny branches and leaves I’d keep and run over with the mower. Anything approaching a real branch size say > eighth inch or so I’d pick those up first. Up to your local rules for removing yard waste.
Finley said: @Stevie
I feel like one eighth of an inch is still squarely in mowable territory. I think I would be comfortable up to at least a quarter inch.
1/8 for a push mower, and 1/4 for a riding. I haven’t met a stick that has damaged my blade, only ones too big to get sucked up and chopped nicely.
I have a 19hp Troy Bilt and a run over twigs and leaves all the time with no issues. Obviously if you see something too thick like a half inch or more, pick it up. It’s free fertilizer for your grass. I do use some lawn lime, just in case it raises the acidity of the soil, especially after the amount of leaves I mulch in during the fall…ymmv on that front.
Ray said:
I mulch straight up branches. Just learn how to sharpen your blades or replace them every once in a while.
This. I’m not getting my lazy ass off the mower for anything less than 3/4”. If it’s larger than that and not more than a foot or so long it’s gonna ‘knock the grass off the deck’ for me.
Burn what is easy to pick up, mow the rest. Will it dull the blade? Yes. Most people don’t care. If you care about your lawn, sharpen your blade(s) at the beginning of the season, and about monthly afterwards or as needed if you inspect the mowed blades of grass and see tearing.
Do what is easiest for you. Your machine can handle anything reasonable.
The worst that can happen, which I found out the hard way once, is a bigger one jams into a belt and pushes it off or jams it. Just remove it and keep mowing.