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Skip a Fall Chore and Leave the Leaves!

Post Date:11/07/2023 10:01 AM

At the end of summer, bumble bee queens burrow just below the soil to wait out winter. Give them the extra protection they need. Leave the Leaves. Photo by Rich Hatfield xerces.org
As awareness of the extinction crisis facing native pollinators and beneficial insects grows, conservationists are working to educate landowners about the benefits of “Leaving the Leaves.”

As the air turns crisp, the rains return and the leaves reveal their true colors before falling to the ground, landowners will begin the annual chore of fall garden “cleanup.” Traditionally, this means raking, or blasting them with leaf blowers into piles to be bagged and sent to a landfill or burned. Experts say these actions not only harm the environment but rob your garden of nutrients while destroying vital wildlife habitat.

The disproportionate ratio of lawn to garden is the main reason we rake, mow and blow.  To mimic the natural ecosystem, wildlife need a layer of leaves to be at least a couple of inches thick. While this may be too much of a good thing for turf grass, research has shown that lawns may benefit from a thin layer of leaves while the rest can be piled up around trees, shrubs, and perennials with no ill effect. If you must keep your lawn clear of leaves, consider making a pile in the corner of your yard. Better still would be to reduce your overall lawn imprint, replacing it instead with drought resistant native plantings that require less care, support wildlife, and serve as future repositories for fall leaves.

Here at the Hegewald Native Plant Demonstration Garden, we leave leaf litter and flower stalks to help maintain a healthy ecosystem. Every resident of the leaf litter, or visitor to it, is connected to the food web in some way. Birds feed on the seed heads and flower stalks through the winter. Dozens of butterfly species depend on the leaf layer for some part of their life cycle. Most, including the tiger swallowtail, spend their pupal stage in the leaf layer. Luna moths and swallow tails disguise their cocoons and chrysalises as dried leaves, blending in with the “real” leaves. Some even feed on dead leaves themselves.

Beyond butterflies and moths, bumble bees rely heavily on leaf litter for protection. At the end of the summer, mated queen bumble bees burrow only an inch or two into the earth to hibernate for winter.  An extra layer of leaves is welcome protection from the elements. Many animals live in the leaves: spiders, snails, worms, beetles and more and all support the squirrels, chipmunks, amphibians, and birds that rely on these insects for food. It soon becomes easy to see how leaves are so important to sustaining the natural web of life.

This means you do not need to militantly rake up every fallen leaf. In fact, leaving them on the ground is a very good thing to do for wildlife.

Another reason to leave the leaves is for the many benefits they provide to the landscape. Gardeners appreciate the leaves since they provide valuable organic matter and build up healthy soil. As the plant material decomposes, nutrients are added to the soil.  Composting and leaf mold piles allow for even more nutrients to develop, which can then be added to your garden. Fallen leaves have the same weed suppression and water retention as shredded wood mulch-and they’re free!

We all realize that burning leaves contributes to air pollution, but did you know that yard debris that is taken to a landfill and dumped, stalls the processes of decomposition because they are deposited in layers of waste? The Environmental Protection Agency reported that in 2011, yard trimmings accounted for 13.5% of solid waste (approximately 33 million tons). Without enough oxygen to decompose, this organic matter releases methane. Solid waste landfills are the largest U.S. source of man-made methane-and that’s aside from the carbon dioxide generated by gas-powered blowers and trucks used in leaf disposal.

What should you do with all those leaves you’re not burning or sending to the landfill?  Here are some tips:  Rake leaves off lawn to use as mulch in garden beds.

Make compost: Combine fallen leaves (“brown material”) with grass clippings and other “green material” and keep moist and well mixed. You’ll have nutrient rich compost to add to your garden next spring.

Let leaf piles decompose: the resulting leaf mold can be used as a soil amendment to improve structure and water retention.

While the idea is to leave the leaves permanently, if you do decide you need to clean up the garden and remove leaves in the spring, try to wait until late in the season for insects to awaken or hatch.

Need one more reason to leave the leaves? The less time you spend raking leaves, the more time you’ll have to enjoy the beautiful fall weather and the pumpkin patches!
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