Easy Way To "Rake" Leaves

Easy Way To "Rake" Leaves FARM HOME Lawn Mowers (31h,38) 31-5-4 Mel Primrose got tired of lifting heavy bags of leaves in the fall. So he came up with a leaf collecting system that eliminates the need to get off his tractor. Primrose simply pulls an 8 by 10-ft. nylon tarp along one side of his riding mower so it catches leaves blown onto it by the mower deck. A metal bar extends out from the tractor loader on front of the tractor to hold it. Lengths of chain on the sides of the tarp provide a bit of weight and keep the tarp flat and straight as it's dragged along beside the tractor. As Primrose drives along with the mower blade turning, all grass clippings and leaves are propelled onto the tarp and continue to build up there until it's full. He then drives to his compost heap and raises the front-end loader up high. As Primrose puts the tractor in reverse and starts to back up, the tarp slides out from under a neat pile of debris. Because the system is 12 ft. wide, he says it works best in large areas of grass. Before hooking up the tarp to his lawn tractor, he goes around his trees and smaller harder-to-access areas, and blows the leaves out in the open. Then, Primrose can later pick them up with the tarp. "This project was really easy to do," he says. "I like how I can make quite large piles because of having the system hooked up to the loader." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Mel Primrose, Site 10, P. O. Box 1, R.R. 1, Westlock, Alberta, Canada T7P 2N9 (ph 780 349-2477).

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