While October is known for being all things spooky season, it also has a lesser-known dedication: Leave the Leaves Month. You read that right – ditch those rakes, throw caution to the wind, and let your trees’ leaves coat your lawn in striking autumnal colors!
And if your neighbors get up in arms over your fallen leaves, there’s no need to fret. Read on to learn how and why letting nature do its work is a surefire way to help your lawn, the local environment, and your back pain. A blanket of leaves doesn’t just look pretty, it also has many ecological benefits!
While it’s easy to think of a tree’s fallen leaves as a pesky chore or as a feature of a messy lawn, it’s time to reframe them for what they really are: nature’s mulch. As leaves decompose, essential materials such as carbon, potassium, and phosphorus are released – nutrients that were borrowed during a tree’s growing season that are then recycled back into the soil.
A coat of leaves on the ground also helps keep soil moist and cool, reducing soil evaporation and insulating the ground from extreme temperature changes. This blanket also serves as a weed suppressant, blocking sunlight from reaching weed seeds and thereby reducing competition for a plant’s resources.
Helping your soil health doesn’t just affect your yard – it also impacts your greater community.
Terms such as “leaf litter,” “yard debris,” and “detritus” lend people to believe that fallen leaves are piles of stagnant, unliving waste. However, this couldn’t be further from the truth: fallen leaves are incredibly valuable habitats for countless living organisms. From microbes to macrofauna, these leaves are brimming with biodiversity, complex food webs, and innumerable ecological processes.
Fungi and bacteria lead the way for decomposition, breaking down the leaves into those critical nutrients for plants to reuse. Invertebrates such as snails, worms, and millipedes work to shred the fallen leaves into smaller fragments as they go about arboreal meals, contributing to the leaves’ nutrient recycling. And the buffet isn’t just for smaller critters – birds, frogs, and other larger animals pick through fallen leaves seeking out valuable food sources.
These fallen leaves also provide essential habitats for countless insect species. Butterflies, moths, and other organisms spend a portion of their lives amongst the fallen leaves resting upon the ground. If these leaves are shredded up, removed, or composted, these important species fail to reemerge in the spring. In other words, eliminating leaves decreases biodiversity while also removing the crucial ecological services these organisms provide, including pest control.
When we clear everything away, we’re not just “tidying up” — we’re removing habitats and food systems that keep our ecosystems balanced.
Nothing would make me happier than ignoring the leaves that will soon blanket the quarter acre of yard, the driveway, and the gardens. But Georgia won't let me. The leaves on the lawn will be mowed in, and, eventually, the leaves covering the gardens raked and turned to compost. The rest of the two acres are still covered with woods, so the the leaves can rest in peace, and grow the fungus and bugs as nature intended.
The Wombat has Rule 5 Sunday: Barbara Eden up and garnering clicks at The Other McCain.
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