What to do with all These Leaves?

For years, many of us have cleared away every fallen leaf from our yards, believing that a “clean” landscape was the ideal. But we now know that removing leaves strips essential nutrients from the soil and eliminates crucial winter habitat for hibernating beneficial insects—creatures that play a vital role in our ecosystems and serve as an important food source for birds.

Ideally, leaves should be left where they fall under shrubs and trees, where they can decompose and nourish the soil. But of course, on lawns, they need to removed because they will smother and damage the grass. Here are some time- and money-saving techniques to manage fall leaves.

A Wasteful and Outdated Practice

The annual ritual of raking, blowing, piling, bagging, and removing leaves costs each homeowner – or their landscaper – hours of time each fall. It also robs the yard of one of nature’s greatest resources: rich, natural compost. And when leaves are moved or removed, the countless beneficial creatures living in them—moth pupae, beetles, salamanders, firefly larvae, and more—are killed or displaced. The practice of leaf blowing causes serious diesel and particulate-matter pollution, especially with the 2-stroke backpack blowers so commonly used in suburban backyards.

Luckily, there are good alternatives that will save you time AND money! That is why responsible landscapers and homeowners are switching from leaf removal with blowers to the more beneficial approach of leaving the leaves, or of using the leaves as a serviceable product in the yard.

Using the leaves on the property to the advantage of the yard can save municipalities (and taxpayers) tens of thousands of dollars by avoiding the necessity of municipal collection. It is also a terrific way to support a healthy ecosystem, and to create healthier, quieter neighborhoods.

Leaf management will differ depending on the size of your yard, where you live, and whether you have a lawn or not. Also, a professional landscaper will have other demands than a homeowner. On this site we will try to offer leaf-management solutions for all.

Managing Leaves on the Lawn

Leaves on the lawn can smother and damage the grass. But rather than blowing them off the lawn, we advocate mulch-mowing the leaves. Mulching involves chopping the leaves into small pieces with a lawn mower. Mulching the leaves on the lawn has many advantages: It reduces noise and greenhouse gases. It enhances the health of the lawn. The shredded/mulched leaves fall between the grass blades and and decompose, enriching the topsoil. The benefits of mulching the leaves into the lawn are numerous and most are scientifically substantiated:

Mulching is quieter and cleaner than leaf blowing
Mulching reduces the need for fertilizer and avoids water pollution by reducing phosphorus and fertilizer leaching
Mulching reduces the safety hazard of piled up or bagged leaves on the roadsides and saves taxpayer money for municipal leaf collection
Mulching improves soil structure, improving water retention, drainage and percolation
Mulching encourages the grass roots to penetrate more deeply, improving grass health
Mulching makes the lawn more resilient to weather events like drought and flooding.

Learn more about mulch-mowing on these pages: Mulch-Mowing > and For Professionals >

Electrification of the Landscaping Industry

Electric and battery-operated leaf blowers are much cleaner and quieter than gas-powered tools. The efficiency of battery-operated landscaping equipment has improved enormously in recent years and all major landscape equipment manufacturers offer electric options. Electric tools are safer to operate and require less maintenance than gas-operated engines. While batteries have their own environmental concerns, they compare very favorably to combustion engines. To encourage the electrification of the landscaping industry, some municipalities, counties and states have started to offer incentives, like partial refunds, for electric equipment.