Leave the leaves...

Autumn blaze maples really are show-offs, aren’t they?

Falling leaves in autumn are a gift sometimes seen as a curse. By now you’ve very likely heard the phrase “leave the leaves”. You’ve just as likely seen it shouted in ALL CAPS at an unsuspecting person looking for a way to manage all the biomass that has literally just been dropped on their laps. Those ALL CAPS people sometimes get me too, but I try to remember that a passion to save the world drives their anger and overall lack of tact. I too have that passion, but hope to go about it in a gentler and more nuanced way, understanding that we still all have lives to lead and our sanity to maintain. Lots of people doing a little bit better is much more effective than a few people doing whatever the current version of environmental perfection is at this time. Don’t let leaf bullies and miserable environmentalists (I’m sometimes guilty of being grouchy like that too) stop you or overwhelm you.

Now, let’s get to doing just a little bit better.

This is a summary of the various ways I approach leaf management in my 3/4 acre yard with six small-medium sized deciduous trees, an abundance of gardens and a somewhat forgiving homeowners’ association. I’m able-bodied and have a spouse who is happy to take care of the lawn-yard but hesitant to do anything garden-related. Details like this are important because I want you to be able to have some context around how my situation applies to yours - our limitations and abilities are all different.

What drives and informs my process is thinking about what nature would do if I weren’t here dabbling around in her space. In a deciduous forest leaves fall by the approximate ton and rest between all the plants and bases of trees and shrubs. They pile up in the flatter areas and make a sort of mat over the ground. Insects are drawn to this insulating cover and burrow down in leaves, under chunks of wood, and even into soil that’s still visible, going wild for the cozy treasure that is a spongey fallen log or tree stump. I try to practice methods that are based around the way nature wants things to run. Is it perfect? No. Is it better than bagging them up in plastic for the hardworking garbage crew to pick up? Yes.

This is what Mother Nature really wants to do. She’s pretty good at composition and intermixing textures!

Here’s my general process:

Late October/Early November is the First Pass; leaves are starting to fall and at least half the leaves still remain on the trees.  

We mow the lawn high with the mulching option on. This adds some organic matter back into the lawn and the leaves will be in small enough pieces to not kill spots of grass.

Any leaves that have fallen in the gardens stay there. 

With thanks to my husband and our mulching lawnmower…

In a week or two we will have the Big Drop and most of the leaves come down.

We rake the leaves that have fallen into the lawn, shred with a small battery-powered shredder, and apply this soft, free, and nutrient-filled mulch to the gardens. In areas where I grow my cutting flowers, annuals, berry bushes, and edibles, I add approximately a 2-3” thickness, which seems to stay pretty well in place if shredded.

Our leaves are chiefly maple leaves which break down pretty quickly by summer of the next year.  (if you have oak leaves, please check the oak-specific notes below)

Leaves that have fallen in the gardens stay right there. I sometimes thin out where they are extra thick around the base of some of my plants and redistribute them around the edges of the garden where I want more weed suppression and edges kept in place.  Once we’ve taken care of the majority of the leaves from the Big Drop our work is pretty much done for the winter. 

Leaves shredded and used as mulch for my new garden bed (zinnias, dahlias and basil grew there the following year).

I may end up adding a couple shredder bags worth of leaves to my compost bin, another great option to avoid bagging leaves for trash pickup (we all have our limitations, but if you can avoid bagging leaves for trash pickup please try!)

While our community does not have curbside composting or leaf pickup, our county has a yard waste drop off site. In previous years before I had a lot of garden space and our trees were smaller, we bagged our leaves in brown compostable leaf bags and hauled them to this drop-off site. Check your county solid waste management to see if this option is available for you.

In 2019 we ended up raking the grass areas, but this photo gives you a good idea of what the leaves look like inside the garden bed. Those will lay untouched to decompose and provide habitat over winter. (taken 11/3/2019)

It’s incredibly useful and beneficial to have a wild corner of your yard. Those fortunate enough to have a tree line on your property can simply push leaves back into that area. 

Convert the area around or behind a shed or garage, to a leaf mulch bed.

With a willing neighbor, think about creating a mutual leaf mulch bed on your lot line that you both can add to each year, integrating some bird-feeding shrubs if you can.

While you’re at it, make a small tidy pile of wood to leave over the years for insects. You can say its a firewood pile, right?

The more garden space you have the fewer leaves you’ll need to move around. Check out my pre-planned gardens available for instant download here if you want to get started. 

While you’re here, you may also find my post about cutting back the garden and leaving the stems too.

Every little step in the right direction helps when it comes to managing the leaves in your yard. 

Live in the Indianapolis area? Check out our buddies at Cultuvate (sustainablygrow.com) - they do fall leaf pickup, help it magically transform over the winter, and offer beautiful leaf compost for spring planting!

**Oak leaves are a different story in that they don’t fall right away and take longer to break down. My neighbors have oaks but I don’t, so only stray leaves make it over to our yard and are usually broken down or blown elsewhere by the end of summer the following year. If you have an abundance of oaks my best recommendation for you is to consider raking and collecting them around the base of the trees they came from, with the goal of building a native shade garden (more info to come) over the years. Lawns under oak trees are generally not very lush anyway, so that area can be put to better use.