Question
Hello. HELP! i have 22 pine trees in my back yard. they are planted in a row along the yards perimeter, close to the fence, on three sides. They are not evergreens, not sure what kind they are, they are over a 100 years old, they shed needles all year round, tall, skinny, not busy at all. Anyway, as you can imagine, the yard has needles in it all the time, you can finish raking and wherever you started raking first, is covered back up by the time you get to the other side. I want to try to do something in the yard to make it look less messy all the time, but i can't go rake everyday. i have very little grass in the yard, none virtually around the trees. i have some little shade gardens wtih hostas and lilly of the valley, jack in the pulpit, etc. But the needles just bury those plants, then you have to spend hours cleaning out those flower beds. is there anyway to utilize this abundant resource of mine (the needles) to make my yard look better? p.s. the other problem is that when you do rake them up, you have piles of needles with dust and dirt under them from years of being there and decomposing and no grass. so i have this "dust" and dirt leftover from the pile of needles.  

Answer
Jennifer,
Actually pine needles are a great natural resource.They are used widely in my area in Western Ky and any drought area for mulching around shrubbery and protection of small plants and a great weed barrier in gardens as well as moisture retention. The only bad thing I can think of about them is that they do fall on top of plants underneath the trees. There might be folks somewhere in your area that would actually come and rake them and carry them off for their own use or you could try bagging them and selling them,especially in the hot summer months when people need a weed barrier and moisture retention.
The only way to fix your problem with the messy job of cleaning them off your plants is to move your plants somewhere else more suitable. There are always ways to  find a solution to just about any gardening problem!