When you're too late for yard waste pickup?

[winterhill.livejournal.com]

It is annoying to me that the last day for yard waste pickup (curbside) is over this week.  The leaves only finally all came down right before Thanksgiving, and me and my neighbors missed the special window to get our bags hauled away.

I looked on the City of Somerville website but don't see what to do after Saturday when we'll do our full on 2010 yard cleanup.  Does anyone know where I take these 20+ bags of leaves?

Thanks in advance for your answers.

Comments

[mfinnigan.livejournal.com]

"Yard waste may also be dropped off at the DPW yard, Monday– Friday, 8:00AM—4:00PM, year round. PLASTIC BAGS will NOT be
accepted. Bushes and tree limbs must be cut and tied in bundles that are not more than 3 feet in length for both pick up and drop-off."

From the PDF card here : http://www.somervillema.gov/CoS_Content/documents/ESG-2010.pdf

Linked to from here:
http://www.somervillema.gov/section.cfm?org=environ&page=266

Which is the first hit on google for "yard waste somerville"

[winterhill.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I didn't find the same when I googled "Somerville Yard Waste".

[ukelele.livejournal.com]

I've found that I can usually find what I'm looking for (on Somerville government-y matters) going straight to somervillema.gov -- it's reasonably well-organized.

[elisheva-miriam.livejournal.com]

If they're not oak or walnut leaves, and you don't mind dropping them off (I don't have a vehicle), I'd be happy to have additional leaves for my compost bin. I live about two blocks from the DPW yard, in the direction of Davis Sq.

[ron_newman]

Just curious -- why "not oak or walnut" ?

[elisheva-miriam.livejournal.com]

Oak and walnut trees are allelopathic. They suppress competing vegetation by depositing chemicals which are toxic to other plants in the soil, and one of the methods for that is to make or store the home-grown herbicides in autumn leaves.

[winterhill.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry, there is oak in there. But we always throw a handful of mixed leaves in to dry out the compost bin when it needs it. (Not a lot, just some brown matter for when it gets too wet in there.) Bad idea?

And thanks to everyone for the replies to my OP. I usually can find things on the Somervillema.gov site, just not this time when I had an immediate need to be annoyed at my own lateness!

[elisheva-miriam.livejournal.com]

If you already have an oak in your yard, you're not making the situation worse by tossing a few oak leaves into the compost. Oaks contian and give off coumarin, which targets most (but not all) grasses and a random sampling of other herbaceous plants.

[squirrelitude]

Oh hey, I didn't know that coumarin was used that way! I guess the Hay-Scented Fern probably uses it for the same purpose.

[elisheva-miriam.livejournal.com]

As an added bonus, coumarin tastes bitter and at least one study suggests that it suppresses appetite in animals. Seems to be a useful chemical all around.