Leave the Leaves in Your Yard and Let Mother Nature Work for You!
Autumn is here again! The leaves are turning as the trees prepare for winter. But before you rake those leaves, bag them, and set them on the curb to be trucked away, consider a more environmentally friendly approach. Use them as mulch in your yard!
Mulching leaves in place can save physical work, but more importantly it will provided a natural way to fertilize your yard, bushes, shrubs, and gardens. Mulched leaves will improve soil quality naturally by adding critical nutrients as they break down. They will also aid soil water retention.
Additionally, leaves left untouched around tree and bush bases provide shelter for small creatures such as butterfly larvae, bumble bees, caterpillars, beetles, and more. You can make your backyard a refuge for pollinators!
If we all reduce curb leaf waste at some level, then the energy savings will also start to add up. A tremendous number of resources go into trucking those leaves away and processing them. Once leaves are removed many folks then add nutrients back to the soil from processed fertilizer and other additives bought and hauled from garden centers. Leaving the leaves lets Mother Nature do the work for us!
Here are a few alternatives to bagging leaves:
- Shred the leaves on the lawn - If you have a newer lawn mower, it may have a mulch setting that you can use. Simply remove the catch bag and start shredding. The shredded leaves will fertilize your lawn leaving it green and lush to the envy of our neighbors. No mulch setting? No worries! Simply spread the leaves out over your yard in a thin layer and run the lawn mower over them.
- Compost the leaves - Add shredded leaves to your compost pile. They will assist in the decomposition of the other materials. Layer the leaves with other nitrogen-rich material such as grass, garden clippings, or kitchen scraps. Turn the pile monthly to circulate oxygen. Don't have a compost pile? You can start a small one in any corner of the yard with grass clippings and leaves. The decomposed matter, often referred to as "black gold" will be ready in the spring to use in your gardens.
- Use the leaves to suppress weeds - Spread a layer of leaves over your vegetable or flower garden, and this will discourage weeds from moving in during late winter/early spring. Once spring comes, if the leaves are still there, turn them into the soil.
- Protect shrubs and tree roots for winter - Leave already fallen leaves in place around tree bases. They will buffer against winter temperatures and breakdown to create the next generation of soil. Pile the leaves a few inches around the roots of flower bushes and shrubs that don't naturally drop leaves.
So, stop seeing leaves as garbage and start thinking of leaves as a free resource, "black gold" provided by Mother Nature!
