The leaves are starting to fall and pile up in your yard. Hopefully you remember to use a rake and not a leaf blower to control the leaves. You have raked them all into lovely piles and the kids have finished playing in them, now what? Don’t bag the leaves for the garbage man to tote off to the landfill. Leaves can take a long time to break down at the landfill, since they are wrapped in plastic. Instead use the leaves to your advantage. Leaves make an excellent ground cover and mulch for your flower beds and gardens all year long. They protect and nourish your garden throughout the long winter, all you have to do is cover your flower beds and garden with a layer of leaves, then pile a small amount of dirt on top. Leaves are also fabulous protection for beneficial bugs and birds love to use them when making their homes. So leaf the leaves alone.
Green Tips:: Leaf Them Alone
What do you do with your leaves?
*Update:: Thank you to Fig+Sage for reminding me that burning your leaves is not Eco friendly either.
xo.
We rake and rake and rake them and spread them in into plant beds for mulch, just like you mention! Good exercise too 🙂 You didn’t mention burning leaves, but a lot of people do it and its not exactly eco-friendly…best to leave them on the ground 🙂
Hi Fig+Sage,
Thank you for reminding me that burning the leaves isn’t Eco friendly either. I updated the info to the post.
XO,
Sweet Greens.
ugh I HATE it when people burn leaves…especially if they are wet as they fill up the neighborhood with horrid thick smoke. we suck ours up in our electric mower’s bag while doing normal mowing of the yard…anything left after mowing season is over just stays on the yard.
Hi one4earth, I agree, it is horrible. We just let our leaves do their thing.
XO,
Sweet Greens.