The leaves that fall from trees are usually disposed of in landfills. They contain a lot of carbon, so why not use them to make our planet better? Biodegradable paper leaf bags can help with this problem by allowing us to take care if recycling these natural resources instead or treating them like trash.
The key to using leaves in your landscape is that they need to be shredded first. You can do this with either a mulching lawnmower or leaf vacuum, but if not then there will be whole mats of them over winter, which could kill grass growth.
Here are five easy ways to use those shredded leaves around your landscape.
Compost
You may be surprised to know that leaves are an excellent source of brown, high-carbon material for the compost pile. Simply alternate layers of shredded leaves with regular green materials like vegetable and fruit scraps; weeds; grass clippings or any other plant life you happen upon in your fall cleanup!
Let all these items sit over winter before planting time arrives again this spring – by then they’ll have turned into nutrient rich fertilizer perfect for use around our homes & gardens alike.
Make Leaf Mold
Leaf mold is a wonderful soil amendment that can be made from nothing more than fallen leaves with some garden dirt or finished compost.
The pile sits for about 12 months, and when it’s done you have the perfect addition to your vegetable patch–not only does leaf-mold make great potting mix but also works well on its own in flowerbeds!
Create Mulch
After you shred the leaves, they can be used as an organic mulch in flower beds and vegetable gardens. Simply apply a 2- to 3 inch layer of shredded leaves around trees or shrubs with care so that it doesn’t contact their stems/trunks directly for best results!
Mulch helps to maintain a consistent soil temperature, limits weed seed germination and adds nutrients as they break down.
Hoard Leaves
Once you clean up the leaves, I am sure you won’t like to see a leaf again! But, when spring rolls around and you’re in the garden pruning and weeding again, there’ll only be more greens for composting but not enough dry materials, such as fall leaves.
Mow
Raking leaves is a bad habit that will only get you frustrated. Raked-over soil doesn’t contain as many nutrients and can lead to more weeds in your lawn, which means less satisfaction from tending or playing on it later this year! You should rake once all the autumn leaves have fallen so by springtime there won’t be any foraging necessary.
Mulching is an excellent way to cut down on the amount of time it takes you spend collecting clippings and leaves. Though most modern lawnmowers come with mulch capabilities, older models can also be converted by installing a blade that will do away with all those messy bagged mounds in favor for small pieces left on your own property!