Tis the season here in Minnesota...I blow all my leaves into my gardens for the winter, clean most of them out in the spring, and then throw them into the compost bin. I don't chop them up (but I don't have any oak). I've been doing that all my life. It's a garden saver in the years where we don't have consistent snow cover (NOT a problem last year!). Since I have black walnut trees in my yard, I do avoid using most of those leaves. They are easy to identify and pull out because they have long stems. Usually I run over a pile of blown leaves with a rake and they catch in the tines and come right out.
