I have fond memories of jumping into leaf piles when I was kid. Even the clean up was fun. My mom would pay me and whoever else I could recruit to rake and bag them (back then, the going rate was 50 cents per bag). Now instead of bagging the leaves, we mulch them into the ground.
According to a recent story on NPR, approximately 8 million tons of fallen leaves end up in the landfill every year. An easy alternative is to use a lawn mower to shred the leaves and spread them over your lawn. The leaves provide great nutrients for the soil, and it's free.
Tips:
• The leaf layer you spread should be thin; your grass leaves still need to be exposed to sunlight, and you don't want to trap moisture
• The smaller you shred the leaves, the easier it is for them to blend into the lawn
• Don't mow when the the leaves are wet
• Take the remaining leaves and pile them around trees and shrubs (3-6" deep)
Read It: Want To Improve Your Lawn? Don't Bag Those Leaves at NPR
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this post makes me happy, bagging leaves SUCKS anyway!
if the leaves have fallen too heavily, i bag a couple bags. then mow over them.
good to know i'm doing my lawn a service :)
Be careful—don't mulch if your maple leaves have black spots on them. That's tar spot. The fungal spores will survive over winter on the diseased leaves and start new infections on young leaves the next spring.
Factsheet on Tar Spot of Maple
Great idea! We also use them for our compost pile. If people want to get rid of their leaves, at least put them in garbage bins for the leaf collection guys - that way we're not cutting down trees for the leaf bags. Dead branches also provide potassium for the soil, I think.
Always a timely subject for fall! An alternative for people who don't garden themselves is to find a community garden or local organization that could use the leaf mulch. No sense in a great natural resource going to waste!
http://fthats.wordpress.com/2010/11/10/leaf-that-for-the-compost-pile/
I rake mine into a pile in the back of the yard and then run my mulching mower over them a few times. It chops them up finely and they decompose quickly.
http://jwolski.com/
We cover our garden with them for winter. Till them in come spring.
Sad thing where I live in northern MN - some people still BURN them. Sad, sad, sad.
Thanks for posting this!
I would imagine that putting the bagger on the mower, it may collect just the right balance of green grass and leaf mulch for the compost pile or directly into garden beds. Its always good to have a good ratio of green to brown in any composting situation!