A few weeks ago, I mentioned that the leaves on the tree outside my window were changing colors. Now most of them are scattered on the sidewalk—although for some reason the leaves on the trees across the street are still on their branches and green as can be.
Whether your trees look like mine or the ones across the way, it’s time to start thinking about what you’re going to do to get rid of or preserve all those falling leaves.
Rake ’Em
Once the leaves hit the ground, it’s raking time. Use these pointers for gathering those leaves into piles in no time:
• Make raking a workout.
• Rake leaves when they’re dry, which is considerably easier than raking when they’re wet. And if you know moisture is on its way, rake now—wet leaves breed mold.
• Remember to remove leaves from the lawn, sidewalks, and flowerbeds. Wet leaves on sidewalks and other walkways can be slippery, and leaves left in perennial beds might rot. Plus leaves left on beds through the winter become a home for fungi and insects—get rid of them now to save yourself trouble in the spring.
• Allow leaves to remain under trees and shrubs as ground cover. They contain valuable nutrients and eventually will turn into compost, helping to conserve soil moisture, reduce soil erosion, control weeds, and more.
• Play in those piles before you do anything else with them!
Compost ’Em
Consider composting rather than bagging (bagged leaves consume unnecessary space in the landfill, plus some cities don’t even accept them anymore) or burning. First shred the leaves with a leaf shredder or weed whacker. Then place the shredded leaves in a compost bin to rot. Or work them gently into the top six inches of soil to decompose. Learn more about composting.
Or maybe mowing is the answer.
Preserve ’Em
Here’s a fun idea: Search out the coolest, most colorful leaves in your yard and use them for crafts projects.
Look for dry leaves, or if you come across ones that are damp, iron them or lay them between two paper towels and microwave them for 30 seconds to 2 minutes (until they are dry). Then wrap each leaf in a paper towel, lay it in a large, heavy book (for best results, leave 10 to 20 pages between each leaf), and let it sit for one week. To protect the book’s pages, periodically change the paper towels.
With your dried leaves, perhaps you’d like to make fall leaf candles or a pressed leaf tray. Or try these fall craft ideas.
Happy raking and leaf project making!
Until tomorrow,
The Home Know-It-All
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