It's finally fall y'all! As the cool air sets in and the trees begin to change colors, dry and crunchy leaves will start falling on your lawn – if they haven't already. Instead of raking the leaves to the side, taking them to the dump, or setting fire to them on these windy days, let us share with you a few hacks for those leftover leaves.
1. Create a Cozy Compost Pile
Storing leaves in a spot where they can break down into compost, will provide a plentiful supply of nutrients such as calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, and potassium to feed your garden. Adding leaves to a preexisting compost pile adds carbon to balance the nitrogen. This compost will also feed earthworms and other beneficial microorganisms.
2. Mold You Want: Leaf Mold
Leaf mold differs from compost as it utilizes a cold process with fungi rather than a hot and humid one with bacteria. The first step to making leaf mold is shredding the leaves and wetting them. Then bag them up and poke small air holes in the bag. Letting the bags sit for a year will give them time to get soft and create a dense material to help fertilize plants and keep your ground cool in warmer months.
3. Free Mulch!
Free organic matter is falling from the ground. Instead of paying for plant food, use wet and shredded leaves to depress weeds and improve soil quality. A 2- to 3-inch layer of leaves can insulate plants and later feed them nutrients.
4. A Sweater Weather Lawn Supplement
As long as leaves don't shield your lawn from the sunlight, they can benefit your green grass by settling into the soil. To ensure the leaves are broken up well, you'll need a mulching mower or a mulching lawnmower blade. This route of leaf management can be repeated when leaves start piling up and will save your back from the process of any bagging or moving of the piles.
Hopefully, you've chosen a new solution to manage the colorful leaves falling into your yard – after you play in them of course. While you're at it, don't forget to think about the inside of your home as well. To help you get prepared for colder months, catch up on our blogs on how to prep your house for fall and winter.