Why do we need to rake/bag up leaves? Wont they biodegrade on their own?
In: 12397
Mulch em a bit and leave em be, seems to be the best middle ground between “get rid of em” and “do nothing.”
Helps to start breaking them down so they degrade easier/faster while still retaining the soil benefits, and it also looks better than huge piles of leaves.
I favor just hitting them with a lawnmower for this purpose. Mulch and spread all at once. Watch out for sticks.
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If you’re using your yard for any recreation then leaves will stick to your shoes and it will be a mess when you come inside. Also I’ve found that too big piles of leaves will not be good for the lawn underneath, they’re only good in moderation.
But you absolutely do not need to rake, they’ll be just fine and gone by next June at the latest, depending on your local temperatures and snow/rainfall. You can also mulch or collect them with the lawnmower, small amounts of mulched leaves will be good for fertilizing the soil.
It’s species-dependent. Our red and white oaks take 5+ years to break down. Others break down just fine over winter, tyvm.
And if there’s a lot of leaves, it shades out and kills the grass.
Mulching the leaves in place is perfectly fine for your lawn. But a better place for them is covering your perennial flower beds. Then rake off what doesn’t biodegrade in the spring and move that crap to the compost pile.
Here is the real reason for many areas, US perspective: common lawn types in the US are “turf grass”. Turf grass is not naturally occurring in many regions and fairly sensitive. It gets suffocated by the naturally occurring dynamic of seasonal leaf beds. For many people the reason they need to rake their leaves is because it will kill their turf grass. If you don’t have that or don’t care about that, there aren’t many strong reasons to rake, maybe concerns over slipping over wet leaves. More and more people are allowing their natural native grasses to grow on their properties which makes clearing leaves less important.
Mulching is insanely effective. We just tried it for the first time this year and I am beyond impressed with the results.
I usually mulch the leaves with my lawn mower every other week until they’re done falling. They mostly decompose but certain sections get so thick that it won’t
Also some places like a county you live in might have it be late for fire prevention or a HOA rule even.
Even raked and bagged, the leaves can be useful with some effort.
Some cities take those bags and make mulch out of the leaves to use in city green spaces.
Some homeowners make their own mulch or compost out of them to use in their gardens.
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