 | Tony Esposito
WCNC Production |
Last Friday everyone was commenting on how beautiful the trees were. The colors were very vibrant. The reds and yellows popped and really stood out.
When I woke on Saturday morning, I think all of the leaves that were so vibrant landed in my backyard. My lawn was covered with leaves. I couldn’t believe how fast the trees in my yard dropped their leaves. If I were a normal homeowner I would be getting my rake or leaf blower out and going to town clearing my yard from the leaf litter.
Most people see leaves as an eyesore and want to rid their yards of all the brown mat-ter that fell and see their nice sterile green lawn clear of all objects.
Well fortunately, I am not a normal homeowner. I see leaves as a natural resource that feeds my lawn, trees and garden. Instead of raking up the leaves and putting them on the street for pickup, I mulch them on my lawn and let them decompose to feed the lawn and trees. I also take some mulched leaves and put them in my garden. The leaves will decompose and provide a natural mulch that will replenish the nutrients in the soil. All this for free. I don’t have to buy any mulch. So again, as with anything I do, I save time and money by being green.
I’m not so sure if this free natural fertilizer is for you. There are some other reasons to leave your leaves on the lawn.
Below is an excerpt from an Audubon Magazine article which sums up the reasons it is wise to keep the leaves on your property.
When you bag leaves and ship them to the dump, you’re removing important ingredients from the local ecosystem. “Leaves have mined phosphorus, nitrogen, and other nutrients from the soil,” says Anthony Garza Jr., the supervisor of horticulture and grounds at the University of California Botanical Garden at Berkeley. “By leaving leaf litter, or alternatively, composting your leaves, you’re keeping those nutrients on-site.”
The environmental benefits are as plentiful as the colorful leaves spiraling off your trees. When left to break down naturally, detritus can reduce soil-transmitted plant diseases and the need for chemical fertilizers. A pile of dead leaves fosters bacteria, fungi, and insects, providing food for salamanders, birds, and small mammals. Leaf litter can also offer an insulating winter cover for such animals as frogs, toads, and queen bumblebees.
Unless you live in a fire-prone area (dead, dry leaves could fuel a conflagration), consider leav-ing some parts of your backyard unraked, or chop up the leaves with a shredder or lawn mower and spread them on a planting bed. It will save time during fall cleanup, and you won’t have to water your plants as often—the leafy mulch will slow evaporation. You don’t even have to worry about what your yard will look like next to a neighbor’s orderly turf, because Garza offers a clever way to disguise your good deed: “You can tidy up and landscape with woody mulch right on top of the leaf litter."
Now aren’t those some pretty good reasons to leave the leaves in your yard?
Come on! I wouldn’t steer you wrong. It’s time for all of us to start thinking differently when it comes to yard maintenance.
Remember, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and stay green.
You're good up to a point. Don't use oak leaves for mulching purposes, as they release tannins and other things that will cause living stuff (grass, perennials) to go dormant and take longer to recover in the spring. Place the oak leaves into your compost heap, or an area that you want to die back.