Happy First Day of Fall! This is my favorite season-the cooler temperatures, the leaves changing colors, sitting around a fire, etc! But…who is going to rake all the leaves in our yard? This year, no one is. As we have been educating ourselves on what we can do to positively impact our environment, my husband shared an article with me on leaving the leaves behind.
The US Department of Agriculture and the National Wildlife Federation are recommeding to “leave the leaves.” Forget the raking, putting the leaves in a plastic bag and have them taken to a landfill. Just leave them. There are many benefits to doing this.
One is not having them taken to be added to a landfill. You won’t be creating unnecessary waste. And it won’t be releasing harmful gases that harm the environment.
Another benefit is by leaving the leaves on the ground, it creates ground cover that provides a natural home for small animals that need warm cover to survive the winter. It also provides nesting materials and food.
Leaving the leaves also provides natural mulching for your lawn. They will help suppress weeds and fertilizes the soil as it breaks down. We won’t be raking this year, we are leaving the leaves to benefit our lawn, the environment and nature. We’ll mulch the leaves with our mower!