The Last Chore of the Gardening Year: Raking Leaves
by Kate Copsey

Description: Fall gardening tips for raking and disposing of autumn leaves.

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When we see colorful fall leaves on the trees, they are beautiful! Red maples, yellow tulip trees and other bright colors light up the neighborhood as well as the hillsides. The downside to the color is that the mechanism that causes the change from green to red/yellow also caused the leave to drop from the tree.

When the leaves fall in a forest they decompose into fine mulch that returns nutrients to the ground. In gardens though, the ground surrounding a tree is often grass and perennial beds. These may also benefit from some mulch, but too many fresh leaves will have a detrimental effect on the lawn, as well as perennial beds. The problem occurs because decomposition of the leaves takes a long time. When the leaves fall, they are dry and light, but at the first rainfall they become a soggy, cemented mass of black which not only cuts off the light to the grass, but slows the oxygen getting to the lawn. Decomposition also uses nitrogen in the early stages which it takes from wherever it can, including your fertilized lawn. That said though, a few leaves on the lawn are not going to kill it. Rather than ridding the lawn of all the fallen leaves, mow over the leaves when they are freshly fallen and dry. This will allow the leaves to break up into small pieces that can be easily incorporated into the soil safely. If you have several trees that are dropping large volumes of leaves, then clearly you will have to rake them.

The raked leaves, preferably mown over, can be spread over the perennial beds as a mulch to help keep the soil and moisture consistent over the winter. Again though, do not let the mulch get too high as this will be detrimental to the plants. A thicker layer can be applied to the vegetable bed to condition that area and supply nutrients for next season.

Remember too that if you have a large pile of leaves, and young children, they will love to run and jump into the pile. This as great excercise for kids in the fresh air and fosters a sense of fun in the garden which should be encouraged and nourished.

The leaves can also be composted.

Municipalities are having to accommodate restrictions on garden waste to the local dump, so they prefer that you put the leaves into a decomposable bag, available from the local hardware store. Do not put the bag out when it is about to rain though, as the bag will disintegrate when wet.

So the key to dealing with fallen leaves is to mow over the first batch and use this as mulch for the perennial beds, around trees and in the vegetable plot. Rake the bulk of the leaves if you have a significant amount and compost them, leaving the last few on the lawn to decompose. Finally, if you have no other options, then bag the leaves responsibly and let your town take them to a municipal mulch pile.

Kate Copsey is a freelance writer specializing in Gardening and Parenting Issues. Certified Master Gardener (1998, Virginia). Member of Herb Society of America, Garden Writers Association, Garden History Society (UK) and Southern Garden History Association. Read about how you can take care of your garden this fall and find tips on bringing plants indoors at: http://www.katecopsey.com

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