Fall Leaves

I have to admit that I love fall leaves all over my yard. They provide such a beautiful carpet of color. I also enjoy hearing the crunching of feet walking through them. Sadly though the colors fade and it is time to rake them up for the year. That has been our project of the week here. We do not send any of our leaves to the landfill or even to the local lawn waste recycling place. They are much to valuable of a resource for that. Here are the ways we use all of the leaves. We have a large amount because we live on a lot with several mature trees. Here is a list of some of the ways we use our leaves.

1) Put in the compost pile to create compost for next year.
2) Put around cold sensitive plants to insulate their roots for the year.
3) Rake them into newly planned flower beds or garden space. It kills off all the grass and weeds. We then rototill them into the new area in the spring.
4) We put them on the garden and let the chickens scratch them into the garden. It has the added benefit of providing playtime for the chickens.
5) Once the big piles of leaves are gone, we mow over the rest of them to mulch them and help fertilize the grass for next year.

Leaves take up a large portion in landfills. See what creative ways you can use your leaves this year. 

Fall Leaves

I have to admit I love fall. I like the chill in the air at night after hot, sultry nights during the summer. I love to watch the leaves on the trees change color. Most of all I love to hear the sound of crunching leaves under foot. Who needs fall decorations when you have a beautiful carpet of colorful leaves on the ground. Then, they turn brown and it is time to rake them up so they don't kill my grass. What to do with all those leaves besides putting them in a bag and sending them to the landfill. Here are a few ideas.

First, I only rake large areas of leaves. A few leaves on the ground will not kill anything and the breakdown of them will provide nutrients to the tree. In nature, leaves provide a mulch that inhibits growth of new plants underneath the tree that compete for its needed water and nutrients. More importantly leaves break down to provide a rich humus to help fertilize the tree.

Second, the leaves I do rake I do various things with around the yard. I use them for mulch around delicate plants to give them extra warmth during the winter. I also put large piles of them in areas that I want to kill back weeds in my flower beds and garden. I will put them on my garden and turn them into the soil. The rest of the leaves go into our compost pile.

Thirdly, we do not have a leaf blower or use one. We rake them. Who needs a gym membership when you can rake leaves? Leaf blowers create noise pollution as well as air pollution. Rakes just increase your body strength. I say this from experience because we have a yard full of trees. Raking is a large task here in the fall. We break it up into different sessions and do it together, Makes for some fun afternoons together.

This year try not to look at your leaves as trouble. Look on them as free mulch and fertilizer. Also, see them for the beauty they create as they fall on your yard. Then, remember to get some good exercise and rake them up versus blow them from your yard.

Happy leaf watching!