Central Texas Gardener: Teresa Sabankaya from Bonny Doon Flower Company explores the intricate language of flow-ers. On tour in Lorena, Elizabeth DeMaria turned her clay-baked, grazed pasture land into gorgeous gardens to romance wildlife. Saturday. 4 p.m. Sunday 9 a.m. KLRU ❦

 

At the end of September, when the summer heat finally starts to cool down, one of the things I enjoy most is return-ing to our screen porch to read, relax, and share a meal. 

 

It’s so refreshing to escape what felt like interminable indoor confinement, that is, until leaf blowers up and down the street begin their infernal never-ending whine.  

Let me make a case for neighbors to re-examine their use (or their landscape company’s use) of gasoline powered leaf blowers.  Most lawn equipment is powered by the old, dirty, and obsolete technology of the two-stroke engine.

Although two-stroke engines are lighter and cheaper than the more efficient four-stroke engines, they cause greater poll-ution because as much as one-third of the combination of gasoline and oil that is mixed in the combustion chamber is spewed out as unburned aerosol.

 

In 2017, the California Air Resource Board issued a warning that by 2020, gasoline-powered equipment such as leaf blow-ers and lawn mowers could produce more ozone pollution than all the millions of cars in California combined. Think about that for a minute.

The 200-mph wind coming out of blowers also affects air quality by sending dust and leaf particulates into the air, which can exacerbate allergies that are harmful to children and folks with respiratory problems.  

Equally important is the harm leaf blowers do to hearing.  Increasing levels of ambient noise in urban settings is concerning, but the low-frequency noise of blowers is espec-ially harmful because of its great penetrating power. It goes through walls, cement barriers, and many kinds of hearing protection barriers.

Hearing loss is cumulative and exacerbated by extended exposure to sounds above 85 decibels. For homeowners and landscapers operating gas-powered blowers a foot away from their ears, the sound assaulting them could be as high as 100 decibels.

What can you do?  I’m glad you asked, because re-thinking the use of 2-cycle engines, whether it’s by you, or the blow-and-mow company you hire, is a really good way an indiv-idual can do something significant about climate change.

First, reconsider the desirability of the 'groomed' landscape promoted by most landscape companies in recent years. The golf-course look where not one leaf or stick is allowed to remain on the grass is not sustainable or environmentally sound.  

Can you back away from this expectation?  Does the curb really need to be spotless? Your grass will benefit if you use a mulching mower (ideally battery operated) to deposit leaf fragments back to the soil.  A light application of DilloDirt in early spring will ensure an early green-up.

Likewise, leave a layer of leaves in the flower and shrub beds over winter. It will protect the roots and help maintain mois-ture. Again, examine your aesthetic standards if this seems too 'messy.'

 

If you are not ready to go cold turkey with the blowers, at least instruct the crew to not blow material into the street, and especially not into the storm drains, where they will nega-tively affect water quality.

Some neighbors have contracted with landscape maintenance companies who offer “clean services”, using rakes or battery-powered blowers. Check these emerging companies out to learn if they can help you.

If you do most of the yard work yourself, think about work-ing smarter, not harder.  Instead of going to the gym, take on the seasonal task of raking leaves as a way of having a good upper body workout.

If you rake leaves onto an 8' x 8' tarp that you can pick up like Santa’s bag, you may reduce some bending over. You can drag the tarp to your compost pile or use one of those funnels to fill a can.

 

At our house we compost most of the leaves just in a big pile in the side yard. By spring we have good soil to put on the garden, because the leaves are easy to turn.

Friends, let’s try to enjoy these autumn afternoons and mornings with less noise and pollution. Let’s try harder to recycle organic material to benefit our own yards and make sure landscape workers at least wear protective ear plugs.

 

The plethora of leaf blowers has taken over before we even recognized the consequences.  But that doesn’t mean it has to stay that way. ❦