A leaf is a terrible thing to waste

Are you looking at the fallen leaves and saying “Oh, no! What a bunch of raking, blowing, and bagging!”

If you are, I have two pieces of good news for you. First, there is an easier way. Second, the easier way is a smarter way.

The easier way is to simply mow and mulch. As your blades chop, you reduce those leaves to tiny bits. You leave the chopped leaves right there. Those tiny bits will dry, shrink in place, and work their way down into the soil. Your grass is not smothered. Instead, it is enriched.

Why is this the smarter way? You spend less effort. You economize. You get free fertilizer. It so happens that those leaves littering your lawn are full of all the major nutrients, plus trace minerals and carbon. When you apply them as a gift, you feed your lawn the way nature does.

You are essentially laying down fertilizer for the next season. You give your turf the nutrition to flourish. You give your soil replenished carbon. For grass (and other plants) to grow, they must have the energy from carbon. Your soil’s microbial food web must have organic matter (especially carbon) to transform and deliver nutrients. Your gift of returning carbon to the soil is also the secret to less irrigating. Organic matter holds moisture in your lawn’s root zone like millions of small sponges during dry spells, saving you the job of watering.

So, enjoy making compost right in place. You’re providing health-promoting nourishment and barefoot-pleasing springiness to your grass. This is the natural cycle. Why rake, bag, and dispose of this richness, and then spread a granular fall fertilizer on your lawn? Leaves are terrible things to waste!

Linda Lockhart of North Root Garden Club said it best:

“Free compost the easy way: Don’t rake those leaves — run over them with the lawn mower and mulch them, along with the grass clippings, right on the turf. After you’ve chopped them up with the mower, you won’t know they are there. But the grass knows they are there. Your green grass clippings, mixed with the leaves, start to decompose and make a better lawn for you. Viola! It’s instant compost for your lawn. It’s one of the building blocks of compost. How could you go wrong?”

Rest your rake and happy mowing!

Ellen Vande Visse operates Good Earth Garden School and offers educational workshops through goodearthgardenschool.com.