I used to do this alot and still slow the car as I pass some healthy leaf bags. The only thing I don't like is to find a bunch of acorns. I agree that clear bags are better but not used too much around here.

I use to pick up bags, but not so much anymore! The last couple of hauls were full of someone else's sand spurs! NOT anything that I want here! Others bags are fine…If you know what they are bagging!

That is why I only pickup in my immediate neighborhood. I can know where the leaves come from.

Free is good. Delivered free is even better!

When I lived in the northeast I would let my (certain select) neighbors (with lots of maple and a few oak trees) know that if they wanted they could drop off all their bagged leaves in my front yard. I also reminded them that if they used their lawn mower to chop up the leaves, they could use less bags.

The chopped up leaves went directly into the compost bins and I returned the empty bags. The fluffy black plastic bags of uncut leaves I stacked all along three sides of my house foundation to add a layer of insulation to our chilly basement.

Sounds great but my neighbors don't deliver.

Ya gotta give 'em all some tomatoes.

I give my neighbors plenty of tomatoes. But no fall leaves get delivered.

They don't bag leaves & put them at the curb here.

You can pile lots of whole leaves and put them on top your beds?! I thought that one shouldn't top the flowerbeds with whole leaves.

Have to start doing that.

Some people chop them. I never have. I use them as is and I have been doing this for many, many years. Big bulbs push thru but don't plant tiny bulbs like species crocus as they can not get thru the mulch. My daylilies mush thru the mulch just fine.

What do you do about Chionodoxa & Crocus bulbs? They're small bulbs and flowers.

You don't cover existing plants with leaves?! Do you put leaves around plants as you would with wood mulch?

When I lived in MD, I'd pile the leaves in the gardens while my neighbors removed all theirs. Then come Spring, my bulbs were up weeks before theirs. And I left my Canna korns in the ground all winter. They never froze. And rarely had to add any bagged mulch.
Last year I volunteered to rake up a friends pine needles. They have been "cooking" out in my compost pile. I'll soon be spread them on the garden.

Another ready source for leaves would be a local yard service business. My brother-in-law runs one and has told me I am welcome to as many as I want - with the caveat that most of his clients use more chemicals on their lawns, shrubs, and trees than I am probably comfortable with. I usually have enough of my own, so have not taken him up on the offer.

Marilyn said:What do you do about Chionodoxa & Crocus bulbs? They're small bulbs and flowers.

You don't cover existing plants with leaves?! Do you put leaves around plants as you would with wood mulch?

Marilyn, large flowered crocus (crocus vernus) does fine in my leaf mulched beds. The smaller corm of species types do not. They can't push thru the heavy mulch. I know, I tried it. So now I am planting the small crocus and the Chionodoxa directly in the lawn.

Yes, I put the leaves around plants like you might with a bagged mulch.

Thanks Rita for all your help!

No problem,. Always ask if you have questions.

I've collected the neighborhood leaves for years. I get such strange looks scooping up the bags.

This year I am giving my neighbors yard waste bags to entice them to save their leaves for me.

When I see the bagged leaves set out by the curb I just think of all those leaves going to waste. They are just the best thing for my garden.

Being in the country we don't have curbs to pick up the leaves from but we have a leaf dump where anybody can put their leaves and the city brings the ones they pick up. I get as many pickup loads as I can and shred them with my grass and put it on my flower beds. I also put as many as the tiller will work with and till them into the veggie garden. It has really improved the sandy soil and helped keep the weeds out of the flower beds and helped the flowers grow! !

Good suggestions to give out bags and to target the neighbors with desirable leaves. One year I was making new beds, so I offered to mow/mulch some of my new neighbors' leaves. I got a lot of strange looks from the other neighbors on the block

Lucky me, in our area people have to put leaves and other yard waste in big biodegradable paper bags. I pick them up, pile the bags behind my shed, and poke holes in them with my garden fork so they can get air & rain inside.