For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for November 04, 2011

The Patterson’s put their leaves in PLASTIC bags that take 10,000 years to decompose?? They should bury their leaves in their yard and let them decompose to benefit their soil.

How do you know they aren’t paper bags? If you dig a hole in the lawn and bury them all in that one hole, you’ll only have one area of lawn that benefits. And…why would you dig up an established lawn?

And this strip is what, 25, 30 years old? Plastic is what they had then.

They had hessian bags too when this strip was written. They compost down very well, and don’t tear when they get wet.

Anybody here ever wonder what goes into making PAPER bags? You should look it up. What you find should shock you!

Maybe they should burn them instead! Nothing says autumn like the aroma of burning leaves!

You tell ’em, Michael!! That nasty leaf!!

I’m sure it’ll listen to you just as well as you listen to your mom.

I use to laugh at my neighbors raking and bagging the leaves. I bought a mulcher mower. Turning fall, I just mow…my lawn thanks me by being the greenest one in the neighborhood come the next year.

We do the mulching thing, too…. but there are times I wish me and my kids could rake up leaves and jump in the piles a bit! I know my kids would whine, but I think they’d have that same (very short) feeling of accomplishment like Michael has here. And then maybe they’d understand why I hate stuff dropped on the floor right after cleaning it…

it’s like whean you clean the house and the kids mess it up as you go – so frustrtating!

@masnadies – Just curious why you can’t rake up a good pile and play in it, with no concern for how much you redistribute the leaves. Then just mulch away as usual.

Maybe John went to 2011, and bought some bio-degradable composting bags, that only take a year or two because of whats in them, to decompose.

Also curious about how you other posters get an active link to another post – see Rasczak just about referencing @Nancy. See, I just get the ‘at’ sign in front of the name. “How’d you do that?!”

I put my leaves in plastic bags and in the spring I find they, the leaves, have turned into super dirt for any plant I choose. They require nothing but water to provide excellent growth. The plastic is also reusable if it is protected from UV light.

So THAT’s how trolls do it…

ahaha. mike say go up there!!!!!!!!!! funny……….

teb, I mulch mine with the mowers, also.

We used plastic bags to bag our leaves back in the 80s. What Michael can do with that lone leaf is take it and have Elly iron it between two sheets of waxed paper. He’ll have a preserved leaf from the fall of the 80s when he was what? 7 years old?

I’m with you Michael, especially when the neighbor’s leaves blow into the yard.

When the world gives me leaves, I make compost. Nothing beats a garden fresh ripe tomato on a hamburger, and compost makes excellent vegetables. Mulching is a good idea, if you don’t have a garden.

" I talk to the leaves but,they don’t listen to me."

I KNOW it’s supposed to be trees but ,THEY don’t listen to me either!!

how about making it simple and just going and using the mulcher on the lawn mower…. I always use the mulcher setting on mine…

I’d like it if Lynn would just “once” a year do an update Sunday strip to let us know how things are doing with the family ’today" then continue on with the reruns.