Alert “06880” reader Ed Paul had already put 75 bags of leaves on North Avenue. He was worried he’d have to start blocking the sidewalk if the town did not come by soon to pick them up.
As he hauled the next group of 20 bags over the other day, he noticed a pleasant-looking older man, with a very long silver ponytail, placing Ed’s filled bags into his own pickup truck.
Ed asked if he’d been contracted by the town to remove the bags.
No, the guys said. After a pause, he said sheepishly, “You caught me in the act.”
Hauling away some of Ed Paul’s leaf bags.
Turns out, he takes the leaves to bury his fig trees.
Apparently they need to get bent toward the ground, then staked in place. This fellow surrounds them with leaves and compost, keeping them above the frost line in winter.
Ed learned something. And that gave him idea.
If anyone else needs extra leaves to bury their trees, he says, feel free to stop by and help yourself. The bags are on North Avenue, just south of Cross Highway — across from the ABC house.
Take only the leaf bags, though. Nothing else is up for grabs!