Call of the leat

FALL IS falling in on us
faster than it has ever fallen
before.

Your days ahead should now be
full with the tasks of picking up
the pieces summer left behind and
preparing the garden for what by
all accounts is going to be a real
humdinger of a winter.

First, the leaves! The billions
and billions and never-ending
billions of leaves.

If you are one of those who
persist in hitching along in the
horse-and-buggy world of leaf
rakes instead of succumbing to
those tempting ads for leaf
blowers, good on ya. You’re a
better man than me,. Gunga Din.

The quintessential leaf rake
should be light, springy, metal
(leave the bamboo and plastic ¢ on
the rack) and, hopefully, .
someone else’s hands.

A good metal rake may cost
substantially more than its less
longevous counterparts, but I am
one of those ‘‘I’d rather spend it
once” kind of guys.

The only way 2 good metal leaf
rake will wear out is if the tines
come loose in the housing. Metal
rubbing on metal will quic!ly
grind thin spots at strategic spots
and before you know it you will
be reminded of that old, toothless
comb you just couldn't part with,
or Granddad.

A good friend (don’t teli him
called him that; he has difficulty
with commitments) gave me a
great hint.

Take your newly purchased rake
that cost an arm and a leg and

‘spend the other iwo appendages

Geoif
Tobiassen

OVER THE GARDEN GATE

getting a welder to braze all of
those strategic weak spots.

Tell him to pay careful atten-
iion to the point at which the tines
are bundled at the handfe and
where they cross the horizéntal
brace.

This may seem a little excessive
but 1 have seen the way this guy
works and how long his tools last.

If you 100 would like to turn
your common garden tools into
heirlooms, then follow his lead.

One nice thing about leaf
blowers is their ability to dig the
evergreen needles out of the lawn.
I have spent hours trying to get
them out with my super rake, but
even this heroic tool is not enough
to budge them.

Put the nozzle of the blower a
few inches off the ground, how-
ever, anu it will dislodge even the

- « ALL SIZES AVAILABLE

most stubborn of them in the
blink of an eye.

Speaking of eyes; be careful you
don't crank that pappy up to full
throttle. The wind speed near the
mouth of the nozzle can get
higher than those found in hur-
ricanes Andrew and Iniki.

Even at low speeds, eye protec-
tion is a must — to say nothing of
the potential damage to your
lawns and nearby plants.

Please remember the times we
live in. The days of wasting the
potentials that lie within all those
leaves have gone up in smoke, lit-
erally speaking.

As | have said in the past, I
figure one good compost pile in
‘the garden should produce at least
one hundred dollars’ worth of soil
amendments and fertilizers a year.

Your local municipality is even
trying to help you by offering
low-cost composting bins. Call Al
(better known as King Compost or
the Regal Rotter) at the North
Shore Recycling Program. Their
number is 984-9730.

Every good gardener knows that
an abundant harvest of leaves put
to proper use this year will pro-
duce another abundant harvest of
leaves next year.

If you don’t get with the pro-
gram, you could find yourself to
be an out-of-work gardener.

Friday, Seprember 25, 1992 — North Shore News - - 13

LAST FALL’S warm temperatures enabled David Lund to do the
chores in shorts while 22-year-old neighbor Nick Boyd played
among the leaves. This year it looks like snorkels and gumboots
will be de rigueur.

* SANDBOX SAND « FILL SAND « CRUSHED
& ROUND STONE ¢ RIVERSTONE © TOP SOIL
© BARK MULCH ® LAVA ROCK
AVAILABLE FOR DELIVERY ONLY

ALL MATTRESSES ON SALE
INCLUDING POSTUREPEDIC

‘fURoITUReLAND
: 986-1561

“4M East 3rd St, NVancouver