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With so many trees in some areas of Anne Arundel County, you may be wondering what to do with all those leaves when they start to fall.  My first word of advice would be to mulch them with your lawn mower, when there are only a few.  But there will come a time when you and your family are likely to spend some quality family time together raking your yard. 

Leaf pick-up in Anne Arundel County occurs on your regular re-cycling day, assuming you have Anne Arundel County trash pick-up.  Some condo or home-owner associations may have private trash and recycling contractors, however, and you should rely on your association newsletter for information about leaf pick-up.

Guidelines for all yard waste in Anne Arundel County are the same for leaves, grass clippings, garden waste and brush such as twigs, prunings, and small branches:

• Use a 32-gallon or smaller trash bag and mark it with a large "X" so it will be visible to the collectors.
• Tie bags, rather than closing them with wire or metal ties.
• Do not mix trash with yard waste.
• Collect leaves no more than a few days prior to collection, to avoid odors.
• Cut branches less than 4 inches diameter to lengths of 4 ft. or less, and bundle with twine.
• Limit the weight of bags or bundles to 40 pounds maximum.
• There is no limit to the number of bags or bundles of yard waste you can put out for collection.  

Your kids or grandchildren will be more eager to help with the leaves if you offer them the opportunity to play in the leaves after certain milestones are reached.  With my children (and now my grandkids) I always used 5 bags as the incentive for some fun leaf-throwing or leaf pile-jumping.  The little mess it makes is well worth the raking and bagging help from these eager volunteers, and they will be more than happy to help you bag those leaves when they are finished playing.  We made some good memories for them and me, thanks to all the trees and leaves in our Crofton yard.