Ryobi Tools
If you don't keep up with yardwork in fall, it's likely that you'll end up with a ton of leaves on your property and some serious cleanup to get started on before temperatures drop and snow falls. For some, this may entail simply raking your leaves to the end of the road to be picked up, while others may have to bag them up to be taken away by waste management. Another option is for folks to hold onto their leaves, only cleaning up their yard to chop them up into mulch — a process made easy with a bucket and one Ryobi tool.
For this job, as demonstrated in the video above by @jeretso on YouTube, all you need is a rake, one of Ryobi's many string trimmers, and a bucket or trash can capable of handling its strength. Rake up your leaves as normal and dump them in the can, filling it up about three-quarters of the way. Next, stick your string trimmer inside and fire it up, moving it around as it chops up all of the leaves within.
Once they're chopped up to your liking, you can dump them out wherever you normally would, add in more fresh leaves, and repeat the process as many times as you need until your work is done. While Ryobi tools aren't a great option for commercial landscaping, they'll surely do fine for at-home jobs like this. Not to mention, you can benefit greatly from the mulched-up leaves once you're done.
The utility of mulched leaves
Mariana Serdynska/Shutterstock
You can just throw away these mulched leaves, but why not reap the benefits of going to the trouble of mulching them? One way to make use of the mulched leaves is to leave them on your lawn to decompose. As they disintegrate, they will release key nutrients that can improve the quality of the soil and facilitate plant growth. So, if you are trying to get grass to grow in certain areas of your yard, mulched up leaves could go a long way in getting seed to finally take to and thrive on your property.
Given their ability to liven up soil, mulched leaves are also a solid choice for adding nutrients to garden beds. This can promote produce and general plant growth, though you should be aware that there are limits to this. You should only add a thin layer of mulched leaves to your garden bed, as thick layers can inhibit growth by blocking air and water. Regardless of where they're placed, though, mulched leaves are also extremely helpful in preventing weed growth. They keep the soil at a proper temperature and moisture that blocks weed sprouts without endangering other plants in your lawn and garden.
All in all, this Ryobi trimmer trash can trick is a great way to mulch up leaves quickly, allowing you to use them however you please once they're all chopped up. Of course, you should be aware of the common problems with Ryobi's string trimmers if you're new to them, so you're not blindsided if things go wrong.
