DOn't rake! Leave the leaves to do what they do best

The most wonderful season has finally returned- Fall! Which means our leaves are starting to do just that!  Instead of  bagging your leaves and tossing them in the trash, simply leave them!

"Leaving the leaves and other plant debris doesn’t have to mean sacrificing your yard to the wilderness. The leaves don’t need to be left exactly where they fall. You can rake them into garden beds, around tree bases, or into other designated areas. Too many leaves can kill grass, but in soil they can suppress weeds, retain moisture, and boost nutrition." Xerces Society

Avoid shredding leaves with a mower. Raking or blowing (electric) are alternatives that will keep leaves whole for the best cover and protect the insects and eggs already living there.
If you decide you need to mow and mulch the leaves to clean up the debris in spring, make sure you wait until late in the season so as not to destroy all the life you’ve worked to protect. 
Then when you do, you will see the benefits of leaf mulch, like:

• Fertilize your lawn.
• Improve soil quality.
• Suppress weeds.
• Prevent topsoil erosion.
• Provide habitat and food to micro-organisms, pollinators, and other small critters.

 
Let’s say you’ve mulched as many leaves as you could into the lawn, but you still have more… now what? Use your leaves (shredded or whole) as an ingredient in your compost pile! Composting is a simple way to recycle household/kitchen/yard waste into a nutrient-rich and biologically stable soil amendment. The four main ingredients to a compost pile are: carbon-rich materials (i.e. your leaves), nitrogen-rich materials (like grass clippings, coffee grounds, tea bags, and fruit/veg scraps), water, and air. The goal is to maintain a 30:1 ratio of Carbon and Nitrogen. In other words, you’ll need a lot of leaves to mix in with your household scraps.

​Fall is a great time with great weather to be had, and we like to spend our precious time enjoying it. So when your yard is full of leaves and you think of reaching for the rake, leave it be! 

Additional Resources
 
USDA- Leave the Leaves
PennState Extension- Composting Leaves Guide