“Get a rake and tend to your home. This is not rocket science.”
If there’s one thing we can probably take away from our poll about whether or not to remove your leaves in the fall, it’s that if you choose not to, you should not be surprised to see an uprising in your cul-de-sac. Maybe not with torches and pitchforks, but definitely with rakes.
“So this is nonsense,” wrote Dwight E. from Walpole in response to the “Leave the Leaves” movement recommended by the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife. “Clean up your yard and have some pride in the appearance of your most valued asset,” he wrote.
And he’s far from alone: Of the more than 350 people who responded to our survey, a full 72% identified as leaf removers, either meticulously (41%) or at least half-heartedly (31%).
“Get a rake and tend to your home. This is not rocket science … Anti-rake screeds like this are not a good idea,” insisted Joe H. of Watertown. And Scott from Waltham pointed out, “If I leave the leaves, they blow onto my neighbors’ properties and now I am the bad guy.”