Experts explain why you shouldn't rake your leaves

[Anonymous]

So… can I be lazy and leave the leaves as they are, or is there anything special I need to do with them to support the environment in my tiny yard?

[Anonymous]

Traditionally lawns were for the very wealthy, but everyone needed some sort of “clearing” to keep the woods and the wilderness at bay, and a certain distance from their house. Pa Ingalls certainly would have maintained that around the Little House In The Big Woods.

So I’m dumbfounded that people are linking articles about how we should refrain from clearing dead leaves so that we might provide “shelter” for animals. That’s precisely what we want to avoid! Mice and rats, and the serpents who prey on them, need to make their shelters away from my lawn.

If you never clear the leaves, then eventually the woods will move into your foundation.

That said, depending on how many leaves we have, I will often run the mower over them to mulch some into the ground before clearing out the excess with the blower.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I guess, eventually, the leaves will decompose. For next Spring, you will have wet, clumpy leaves.

If they are on your lawn mow them (but don't collect the clippings, do it bagless) and they will be chopped up so fine they'll decompose very quickly. Even if beds where I don't mow I don't find that they get too thick and clumpy. But even where they are in a layer they act as a mulch, and you need to mulch with brought-in mulch less. Its a win!

Correct. However, doing this also potentially kills off a lot of beneficial larvae/eggs of bugs, moths, and butterflies. We are trying to do away with the mulching in this manner and instead using hte whole leaves as well as mulch piles to decompose naturally. Since moving in that direction, we have noticed so many more species of moths and butterflies. Adding in native plants, eliminating wood mulch, and doing away with pest/herbicides and our yard has been so enjoyable to watch. Bees, butterflies, fireflies, hummingbirds, songbirds, etc.

To clarify, many moths and other insects have larva that looks like leaves or lay their larva in leaves. That's what I mean by "killing off."

Thank you for taking the time to write this. We leave the leaves so the butterflies, spiders, moths have a home for winter. Doug Tallemy is a gem teaching and encouraging nature in our back yards. For anyone with slightest interest in helping wildlife and nature, please see his work.

[Anonymous]

I started mowing mine last year. And I noticed a lawn care outfit shopping the leaves at a house nearby this fall, and was impressed.

I just used my regular mower, which is just a gas push mower. I took of the grass catcher. You have to make more than one pass because some of the leaves blow away from the mower, but you still get of lot of leaves chopped up into little bits.

[Anonymous]

I don't. We hire someone to do that.

[Anonymous]

New Year's weekend is my traditional last mow/mulch of the season. This year I left the leaves in my flower beds/under trees out of laziness--we'll see how it goes.

[Anonymous]

Answer: small lawn, hand rake leaves into beds on the side.