There are good reasons for not raking leaves this fall, and it’s not just because it’s a lot of work. My wife calls me Pa Kettle (“I’ll get to it one of these days”), but fallen foliage actually is an active and necessary part of the ecosystem, scientists say. “Beds of leaves provide shelter and even food for animals like chipmunks, box turtles, and earthworms. Butterfly pupae use the layers for protection as they grow over the chilly months. Plus, as the leaves decompose (no, they won’t litter your lawn forever), they form a natural mulch and help fertlize the soil,” according to Good Housekeeping.
I’m never in a rush to do things that take care of themselves, and was a pioneer in Weed Gardening back when I was single. I was renting an apartment in Bridgewater VT which had a large yard. My neighbor planted an extensive garden which she meticulously cared for, removing the weeds on a daily basis. I planted a modest garden nearby, but with long work hours, I came home too tired to pull out weeds, and left too early in the morning to spend time on the care of the crop. Despite that, I had a bountiful harvest, while the larger and carefully cared-for garden next to mine yielded very little. I was convinced that allowing the weeds to remain where they were helped to hold in moisture and nutrients necessary for the crop — and saved hours of strain on my back.
I love working outdoors, and often say that, in another life, I’d like to be a gardener. The thing is, it takes time, and I tend to avoid outdoors chores when it is too hot or too cold or too rainy or …. You get the idea. It doesn’t really mean that I’m lazy — I have plenty of other things to do, with not enough time to do them all — but it does mean that some things that should be done do not get done.
For instance, that huge dead branch that Eversource cut from the rock maple in front of our house and left on the front lawn is there still. I need to get out my chainsaw and cut it up before it rots away, but the time is never right, it seems. Now it is half-covered by leaves.
Which brings us back to the subject of raking. I could get a leaf-blower and make short work of the task, but I hate leaf-blowers. They are loud, they emit pollutants and dust that can be harmful to wildlife and the environment, and they can lead to conflicts with neighbors when the leaves are blown onto an adjacent lot.
Leaving fallen foliage on the ground allows the plant material to break down, returning nutrients to the soil. David Mizejewski, a naturalist with the National Wildlife Federation, says that many species of moths and butterflies rely on the leaf layer to complete their life cycle, and those moths and butterflies, in turn, provide a critical food supply for many birds.
That said, leaving leaves alone in thick mats can damage lawns. Mizejewski said the next best option in that case is to rake leaves directly into garden beds and to scatter them around the roots and stems of plants, or into a compost pile where they can decompose over the course of the year. Leaf mulch can be applied to lawns or garden beds to provide nutrients.
Susan Barton, a professor and extension specialist in landscape horticulture at the University of Delaware, says the worst thing to do is to dump leaves near a gutter or put them in trash bags and send them to a landfill. They are much more useful when they remain on your property.
I’m all for letting nature take its course. Snow will soon cover unsightly leaves, and, come spring, what remains of the fallen leaves will be raked away before it’s time to mow the lawn. That’s something I’ll get to one of these days.
National Gratitude Month
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