Winter season is certainly another season where some changes occur in terms of the living habits of all organisms, including deciduous plants, which shed their leaves in winter. These falling leaves can be beautiful, but the lawn-owners who are strict about the lawn’s health and look may wish to get rid of these leaves. Those concerned lawn owners use blowers or other powerful tools to clear leaves. Using the blowers to clear up the beautiful orange and brown leaves not only takes time but also creates noise pollution and eventually impacts the environment in your neighbourhood. For the other group of lawn owners, who opt for picking up the leaves with their hands, are certain to get tired of this time-consuming task. So, what is a better idea? Simple, Let the leaves be there!
To make it short, removing leaves is like throwing away the natural fertiliser and missing out on benefits offered by fallen leaves. But what exactly should you keep them? Let’s look into some good reasons to save yourself from the chore of collecting and discarding fallen leaves.
Advantages of Leaving fallen leaves on the lawn
Your lawn will be healthier.
Dead leaves can be your lawn’s best companions as they are a rich source of potassium, phosphate, and nitrogen. These dead leaves, when get decomposed in the soil, can become great fertilisers as they offer great nutrients needed to nourish and improve the soil’s health.
You will reduce your waste.
The dead leaves you collect usually end up at the dump. But allowing these dead leaves to remain in your lawn lessens the load on landfills. Instead of making those leaves end up in landfills, it’s best to leave the leaves on the lawn as it is best for both ecological and horticultural purposes.
Wildlife can be saved.
When you remove leaves, you are also somehow destroying the habitat of some small animals, birds and other beneficial invertebrates. Specifically, these leaves serve as shelter for caterpillars who will become butterflies in Spring and help in pollination. Not only habitat, but you are destroying their source of food.
You can increase the number of beneficial insects.
By collecting the leaves, you can increase the number of beneficial insects. During the growth season, you will surely get help from these beneficial insects. As soon as the yard is made clear, the number of these animals will immediately decrease. So keeping these leaves in a pile can be helpful.
You can save time.
The yard size and the number of deciduous trees in your yard determine the hours to rake. Whatever the size is, it will certainly take a good amount of time of yours. So, if you wisely leave those leaves on lawn, you can save time.
Read Also: How to cut the lawn: A step-by-step guide
When should you remove the Fallen Leaves?
As discussed, you should leave the fallen leaves on your lawn as it can improve the soil quality however while garnering them, you must be vigilant about not suffocating the plants. If you happen to make a thick layer of leaves, you may end up having an unhealthy lawn. For a better approach, you can remove extra leaves from your lawn and dispose of them in the compost container. Another trick is running your lawn mower over the leaves and getting them shredded.
Hardscapes, or the paved portions of your garden made of stone or brick, need to be cleaned up. When it rains or snows, and you leave any leaf (or other organic debris), these areas can become slippery and dangerous. So, to keep accidents at bay, you can keep the leaves in your garden bed. Also, you can remove the leaves off the plant and discard them away if it appears to be sick or has pest infestations.
Another condition when you have to remove these fallen leaves is when you are trying to grow some self-sowing plants, and these thick leave beds work best to prevent the seeds from germinating. Therefore, in this situation, you must get rid of those leaves. However, keeping the leaves in stacks undisturbed may help to stop weed seeds from sprouting if you are trying to grow non-self-sowing plants.
All in all, if it bothers you and gives you the feel of “My garden looks messy with these fallen leaves then, you can get the leaves removed.
Wrapping Up
You do not have to stay worried about the fallen leaves as, most of the time, they benefit your lawn and serve as a natural fertiliser. Furthermore, using these leaves in areas with compacted soil makes them healthier soils. Not only the leaves but the grass left during mowing can also serve as fertiliser.
To make sure your lawn is cut in a precise manner, you must invest in a good lawn mower. At present, people like electric lawn mowers. To buy any electric lawn mower online, you can look on Amazon. There you can look for electric lawn mower reviews and buy the best electric lawn mowers that serve best for your lawn.