Leave the leaves?

Do you rake, mulch or blow your leaves? Or perhaps you wait for Mother Nature to move them down the street with a brisk wind?

When I was a kid, we had a normal-sized city lot in a residential area. But, that lot had 28 oak trees on it. How do I know this? Because every fall we would have cleanup days where we raked and bagged all of the leaves. Counting the trees and jumping into the giant piles of leaves was much preferred to the tedious and messy work at hand of removing all those leaves!

I have been reading a lot of articles lately about the benefits of leaving leaves and other plant debris until next spring. Do we really need to remove the leaves? What about all the other dead, decaying plant material?

Leaving the leaves in their current fallen state on top of your turf may smother your lawn, so mulching and bagging these leaves is beneficial. Don’t throw the leaves away though. They can be used as mulch around your trees, shrubs or flower beds. You can also compost them, then incorporate the organic matter into your soil next spring.

However, if you have a lot of native trees in a heavily wooded area, let the leaf litter remain to increase soil nutrients and encourage root growth. Have you ever wondered how trees in a forest stay so healthy? Humans aren’t regularly applying organic matter to them. The trees basically fertilize themselves through leaf litter and other decaying matter.

What about deadheading, pruning and removing those sad looking tomato plants? Decaying plant material can provide food, as well as habitat for insects and other animals. Some birds depend on seed pods and other plant material for survival during the winter when food sources become slim. By cutting back your perennials now, you may also unknowingly remove a praying mantis ootheca, butterfly chrysalis or other beneficial insect.

At the same time, if any of the plant material is diseased or contaminated with pests, go ahead and remove them from your yard. Do not compost these plants unless you want a repeat infestation next year. Use the same approach with invasive plants or vines. Get them out of the yard immediately.

If your preferred method is to wait for the wind to blow the leaves down the street, you might want to think again. According to Kansas State University, leaves can clog storm drains and eventually work their way into streams. As the leaves breakdown, they release nutrients that contribute to lower water quality and cause algae blooms. Algae is not only unsightly in our local ponds but also harmful to humans and animals.

According to The Empress of Dirt “Fall ‘mess’ nurtures spring life. Let nature do what it does best.” Sounds like a great idea to me.

Kelley Rawlsky has an M.S. in horticulture and is the director of Bringing People and Plants Together, an organization dedicated to bringing horticulture education and therapy to the community. For more information: PeopleAndPlantsTogether@gmail.com or follow us on Facebook.

Originally published in Broomfield Enterprise - Oct 31, 2017