Leaf-peepers may not appreciate how much time homeowners and gardeners spend dealing with leaves in the fall.
Of course, leaves fall in the forest every year with no raking involved. But for your yard and garden, a more nuanced approach may be required.
“‘Leave the leaves’ is a mantra that a lot of gardeners are using now,” says Emma Erler, host of Homegrown NH and lead horticulturist with Kirkwood Gardens at Squam Lakes Natural Science Center.
“I will throw a caveat in there – if you have a lawn, simply leaving the leaves in place can be tricky,” she says. “If you have a large, mature tree, those leaves can end up smothering the grass. They can also, if left in place, end up spurring on some diseases like snow molds, and you’ll end up with a patchy lawn.”
If you get a really heavy, thick leaf litter layer, Erler says that will also affect your garden.
“A lot of garden plants aren't accustomed to that, especially things that we grow that are that evolved in the prairie, like coneflowers, coreopsis, even some of our ground covers, like vinca or lamium,” she says. “These plants aren't used to being under a thick leaf litter layer, so it can end up causing a bit of damage.”
Erler’s approach is to try to leave the leaves as natural as possible in her woodland or more natural areas in her yard, but, “in an area of the garden that I expect to be a little bit more manicured, then I'm removing the leaves, maybe shredding them with the lawn mower or a leaf chipper, and then putting them back as mulch.”
Oak leaves are particularly tricky, according to Erler. “Maple leaves tend to break down pretty quickly, but oak leaves tend to linger a while in the garden,” she says, “I'll end up removing some of those just to give my plants underneath a chance to grow”
Erler spends a lot of time in the fall running over leaves with a mulching lawn mower at Kirkwood Gardens.
“I find that as long as you keep up with the leaves, and mulch them with the lawn mower every couple of days, those little bits of leaves will filter down into the grass, and they're a good source of nitrogen.”
Even if you “leave the leaves” you’ll still be expending energy managing the onslaught of leaves in the fall.
But spend your energy with your lawn mower to chop some leaves into the yard and to use as mulch. That way, rather than blowing, raking and bagging them, your yard and garden, and our ecosystem, will benefit.
See you in the garden!
