The National Wildlife Federation posted last fall that raking up your leaves is a no-no, as far as preserving nature’s own little eco-system goes. I am not going to tell the HH or Monkey Boy about this quite yet, because I am pretty sure they will be all too eager to side with the no-rake mandate. Plus, I am not totally convinced it’s a great idea to leave the leaves where they fall.
Here’s the Wildlife Federation’s stance: the leaves are meant to decompose and give back the the dirt. They also create natural habitats for small critters–“chipmunks, salamanders, earthworms, turtles and other small creatures…” The leaves provide food, shelter, etc. It all makes sense from a very organic, ashes to ashes sort of perspective. The only real issue is that those critters don’t have to stand in front of the HOA for their “lawn sins,” like I do. Leaving a thick layer of leaves on the ground throughout the winter can harm your grass–especially if they lay there super wet because of rain or snow. Think lasagna gardening. The leaves will suffocate out any weeds, or in this case, your lawn. I can already picture the snoopervising committee breathing in a paper bag at the sheer thought of this.
So, while it might be better overall for the entire eco-system, I think I’ll continue to make the boys rake them up {okay, blow them into a pile with the leaf blower so that I can rake them up}, and opt instead to do something equally environmentally responsible with them, like turn them into mulch to protect my garden from the cold, throw them into the compost pile, or creating a new lasagna garden.
How about you, do you let nature do it’s work and let the leaves stay where they fall? Or do you rake them up to keep the lawn {and the other suburbanites} happy?
~Mavis
Jeanie says
If we don’t get them raked up then they tend to just get really wet and heavy and don’t really compost down into the lawn. We have tried grinding them up with the mower…doesn’t work well for us. I do cover my raised beds with leaves and then wet them down because it keeps my worms alive. Other than that, we have them raked up and hauled off. Too messy for our midwestern climate to leave them. I have to be honest, with an ash tree, two huge silver maples and a liquid amber as well as the locust trees on our boulevard, it is tempting sometimes to just take down a portion of the fence on a windy day and let them blow into the next state.
Teresa says
I blow the leaves into my flower beds to compost and choke ay weeds there. the few that are left on the lawn get chopped up by the mower and feed the grass. I used to obsess about raking but no more. Let the leaves fall where they may! Did I mention I have no deciduous trees in my yard, I get all the leaves from my neighbors. S’okay.
Emily S. says
We use our lawn mower to mulch then and leave them on the lawn. Its really helped our grass the last few years.
Tami says
I would leave them – I do think rake up the grass clippings either- but the leaves hide the dog poo too well. I need to be able to pick that up! 🙂
Laura Z says
We live out in the country (far away from an HOA), so we just leave our leaves on the lawn. My husband usually has to mow through November, though, so they get chopped up a bit. Did you see that viral video of the guy raking with a giant sheet of cardboard? I wonder if that really works!?
Mel says
We leave (leaf?) them, but we mulch them with the mower first so they are smaller and evenly distributed. We also only have a few deciduous trees (the rest are pines), so we don’t have a huge amount of leaves piling up in the first place. We have so much wildlife, and the soil in our yard is so poor and compacted, that we would never remove them. When it snows, my husband shovels it off some areas of the leaves so the birds can continue to forage in the cold. In the spring, when we clean up, we always find baby turtles, salamanders, etc. The only thing that concerns me is garden pests (squash bugs, asparagus beetles, etc.), so we tend to clear those areas of all debris but leave the rest.
Jenny Young says
I love on 5 acres that are half woods, surrounded by wilderness with lots of huge trees…..so I could never rake up all the leaves that blow in from everywhere.
We do mulch our leaves though. Our riding mower has a mulching attachment that chops the leaves up into little bits. We go over the yard (no lawns in the wilderness!) & chop most of them up.
In my garden & flower beds I leave them until spring. It makes a huge difference in how much weeding I have to do. Some of my flower beds I never remove them, I just let them decompose around my perennials. Those are the beds I almost never have to weed or water. I do have to remove some leaves because they can pile up a few feet thick & completely smother my plants otherwise. For the most part, I watch for the plants to sprout in the spring & just clear away over the top of each plant.
Kat says
We only installed sod in part of the backyard so we only rake the leaves off the grass and it gets composted. The rest is left natural. Currently we have no trees in the front yard so what few leaves make there way there stay until spring.
Deborah says
We mow ours up and leave them on the lawn. They are good for the grass. I just take them away from the house and the fence so hubby can chop them up. Our centipede grass is finally spreading. We got some squares and placed them on the yard where we needed grass. I’m trying to get rid of the Bermuda grass. I’m allergic to its pollen. I’d like to till some into the garden, too.
Pam says
I rake. Luckily most of our trees are on the perimeter of the lawn and the wind blows them across the lawn and away most of the time so not a whole lost of raking needed.
Marianne says
If you live in an area with lakes, it is best to rake leaves in order to prevent them from running into stormwater systems. Leaf runoff contributes to poor water quality and toxic algae blooms.
More information is available here: https://www.pca.state.mn.us/living-green/dont-let-leaves-litter-lakes
I like to use my leaves as free mulch for my garden beds.
Connie says
Desert here so without much rain they don t decompose. Magnolia leaves must be raked.
Alison says
We do a little of both. Rake the lawn and sweep the patios, walkways, driveway, etc. In our “forest” area of the yard they remain in place. We save all of our leaves and use them in the chicken coop, compost bins and garden beds.
Colleen says
I am lazy, but it suits… the way my yard is the leaves blow against my fence and stick there.. smothering the summer weeds over the winter and also composing the stupid lilies that came with the house that I despise but which look nice against the perimeter.