Hi Lime. My property is surrounded by gigantic trees and we probably get depths of more like four feet of leaves every week for about two months straight here. It's my worst gardening nightmare every year! I usually just handpick out as many leaves as I can between the canes and whatever is left in Spring I deal with it then, and hopefully some of them have turned themselves into fallen compost/mulch. It'll be interesting to see if anyone has another way of dealing with this that's easier. As I read this I was thinking maybe those plasic milk carton crates would work somewhat, but then you'd have to look at that ugliness lurking outside, and you'd be adding shade that's not wanted in the process.
-Nan