apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Our next door neighbor used our first lawn full to cover the bare ground in his backyard where the dogs run. The ground turns to mud in the winter due to so much dog traffic so he's going to add our leaves to the space to help with the mess. Win/win situation.

Compost! Dried leaves are great "brown" matter for the compost bin or pile.

Get a mulching mower. We pile the mulched leaves in a corner of the backyard in the fall and then use them in the spring as mulch for all our beds. Then we don't have to use that horrible black bark mulch that is so bad for trees.

In the Midwest, my mom piles them atop her flowerbeds to mulch and insulate perennials/bulbs over the winter. She covers them right over. Come spring, the soil's been improved, the earthworms are fat and happy, and any early bloomers are protected from late cold snaps.

It's important to wait until after the first frost has killed the leaves of the plants in your flowerbeds, since you don't want to deny any live/non-dormant plants sunlight.

I've used a mulching mower (electric!) on my leaves since I purchased my 1st home about 6 years ago. Does great things for the St. Augustine grass in Austin. I like the idea of using them for composting, too!

To do: build compost bin.

Give them to me! Seriously, I found a leaf shredder at a thrift store for cheap cheap and will gladly take any off of your hands for some serious compost action. I'm in Shaw.

Ditto, DianneS's mom. I don't have a lawn any more (all garden/landscaping). I rake them off the sidewalk and street and put them on the flower beds and around the trees themselves. They break down by spring.

Here's a fun science fact: most earthworm species in North America are invasive and have a detrimental effect on forest ecosystems. There's a lot of pro-worm propoganda circulating in schools these days :P

ChristopherB--those earthquake activists!

Why not just leave them alone? Don't leaves break down eventually?