Soon the leaves will start to fall. But before you start raking and bagging them for your curbside garbage pickup, there may be more environmentally responsible solutions to a lawn full of leaves.
When the leaves start to fall in our tepid Texas autumn, it leaves (pun intended) many of us with the dilemma of what to do with them all. Many people rake them up, bag them, and set them out for curbside garbage collection. But not only is this a very labor-intensive chore for you, it may not be the best way to Take Care of Texas.
Throwing leaves away takes up space in our landfills. In 2021, over 416,000 tons of brush and lawn trimmings went into Texas landfills. That’s a lot of valuable organic material that could’ve been put to better use. And while that number only accounts for 1.09% of the total trash added to landfills last year, it represents something for which we can all take responsibility.
Leaves are a natural, organic source of nutrients for your lawn, plants, and trees. They’re basically a free and effective high-end fertilizer that’s already sitting on your lawn. Throwing them away is a huge waste of resources when there are far better ways you could use them.
Leave your Leaves
A small amount of leaves left lying on your lawn can be beneficial. It insulates the ground, keeping the soil from drying out or freezing. It can also help prevent invasive weed seeds from finding exposed soil in which they can germinate and spread.
However, excessive leaf matter is harmful. Too many leaves can smother the grass, robbing it of oxygen and sunlight. Even though winter isn’t a growing season, your lawn still needs rainwater. A thick layer of leaves can prevent the water from reaching the soil.
Mold and other plant diseases can also occur when you have too many leaves on your lawn for too long. Those same leaves could even attract unwanted pests like mice and rats!
Luckily, there are a few environmentally friendly solutions to your leaf problem that don’t include bagging up leaves or leaving them on the ground.
Mow Them Down
One strategy is to mow over your leaves, as they lay, with a mulching lawn mower. Chopping them up allows the leaf pieces to fall between the grass blades and start breaking down quicker. The faster they decompose, the sooner they release their nutrients into the soil.
Remember to only mow the leaves when they are dry. Mowing them while they’re wet can clog and even damage your mower.
Collect and Mulch the Leaves
Another option is to collect the leaves and use them as mulch. Here again, you can use a mulching lawn mower with the bag attached. Mow over the leaves and empty the bag when it’s full. Dump the leaves into a pile where they will be out of the way. (Some leaf blowers can be converted into a mulcher as well. Use it with a bag attachment to collect and shred leaves.)
When your mulch is in one big pile it’s easier to scoop out the right amount and place it where it’s needed. Layer the mulch two to three inches deep around shrubs and three to four inches deep around trees.
Use Leaves in Your Flower Bed or Vegetable Garden
If you rake and collect your leaves, consider working them directly into your flower bed soils. A thick, six-to eight-inch layer of leaves tilled into your soil will improve aeration and drainage.
Your vegetable garden could also use a boost. Work the leaves into your soil during the fall. This allows sufficient time over the colder months for the leaves to decompose prior to spring planting. Try adding a little fertilizer to the soil after working in the leaves to hasten their decomposition.
Compost
Composting leaves is another great (and green!) way to use them. A healthy compost pile has a 50/50 ratio of browns and greens. Your leaves, along with cardboard and newspaper strips, would be considered “brown” since they are dead material. “Green” materials include vegetable scraps like potato skins, carrots, and lettuce, as well as grass clippings and such. However, during the colder and wetter months, it’s better to have a 60/40 ratio of brown to green. This will give your compost pile the warmth it needs so decomposition can occur. Learn how to create a compost pile with our Guide to Yard Care.
For more information on how to compost, read our blog about the benefits of composting.
Green Pickup
For those who live in a city or suburb, your local garbage service may have a “Greens Pickup” event. This means that you can leave out your bagged leaves, lawn trimmings, and tree branches for them to compost. Check with your local service for exact dates and details, but it’s likely that it will coincide with our natural leaf drop events. For Texas, this is generally in November and March.
These efforts do some considerable good. In 2021, Texans are responsible for diverting 566,000 tons of brush and lawn trimmings from landfills into recycling/composting facilities.
Find a Home for your Bags of Leaves
It may sound a little crazy, but it’s possible that you could find someone who actually wants to take your bags of leaves. If you live close to a rural area, someone who operates a farm might be very excited at the prospect of using your leaves. It wouldn’t hurt to look online for someone needing bags of leaves for their farm or gardening project. You may also consider placing a free advertisement of your own offering free leaves.
Whatever You Do, Keep Leaves Off the Street
When leaves and grass clippings blow into the streets they usually end up in our storm drains, eventually clogging the system and causing flooding and other big problems for your water system and watershed.
Stormwater picks up leaves and lawn debris along with dirt and other pollutants. It all flows into the storm sewer system or directly into lakes, creeks, and rivers.
Polluted stormwater has many adverse effects on plants, fish, animals, and people. Sediment obscures the water and impedes the growth of aquatic plants, in some cases making it impossible for them to live at all.
The excess lawn fertilizer that spills over from our yards can cause algae blooms when it reaches the water. When those algae die they sink to the bottom and decompose, initiating a process that removes oxygen from the water. Fish and other wildlife can’t live in water with low oxygen levels.
Whether you bag them, compost them, mulch them, give them away or turn your backyard into a leaf pile wonderland for the kids to jump in, be sure and keep leaves where they belong and out of our storm drains.