Unless you ’re raking a pile of leaves to jump out in , it is n’t much fun . And , a large yard with a lot of tree think of all day raking . So , if you ’re not looking for spare mulch or to compost leaf , scientists suggest leaving them alone to benefit wildlife and the garden . Yes , let the leaves be .
Benefits Of Not Raking Leaves
1. Wildlife Habitat of Leaf Litter
TheNational Wildlife Federationstates : “ The leaf layer is its own mini ecosystem ! ”
The leaves are a natural home ground for butterfly , fire hook , chipmunks , box turtles , toads , shrewmouse , nightcrawler and others . They lay eggs in the leave-taking and flow on and under the foliage bed . By graze or flub leave , you disrupt their life cycle and eliminate good insects .
Start peeling the layers back of a leafage pile , and see all the wildlife .
2. Increase Beneficial Insects
By providing a habitat , you increase the population of good insect for gardening time of year . When leaves are removed from the yard , automatically you ’re decreasing beneficial insects that are your friends come grow time of year .
3. Increase Soil Health
add up leave as a mulch to moulder or till into the dirt to add up constituent topic and nutrients . constitutive matter in soils will aid regulate soil moisture . Also , earthworms have intercourse soil with decomposed leave-taking . In fact , if you ’re looking for nightcrawler , scrape back to the bottom layer of leaves and you ’ll be astonished .
4. Avoid Pollution from Leaf Blowers
Let ’s confront it , not everyone has time to rake . If you let the leafage be , you could avoid disturbance pollution of leaf cetacean and fogy fuels to run them .
5. Save Time
Depending on yard sizing and the amount of deciduous Tree that are in the 1000 will set the hour it will take to rake . But , one thing is for certain … count on hours and often a weekly job until all leave have fall . Do you have prison term for that ?
6. Reduce Waste
According to the2013 Environmental Protection Agency ’s Report , elevate Sustainable fabric Management : fact and figure , 28 percent of household wastefulness was food and yard trimmings . keep waste by letting leaves be , or carefully move them to make wildlife habitats .
How to Use Leaves from the Yard
No matter how much you want to get out of raking your lawn , some may be require by Homeowners Associations to remove foliage . Or , you may live in a in high spirits - risk of exposure wildfire sphere , where leaves are a fire fortune . Here are ways you could use leave to profit your garden , wildlife conservation crusade , and community :
1. Composting
desire a successful garden ? habituate compost . Leaves are corking to compost as a carbon copy rich fabric . Be sure to add atomic number 7 materials to the pile like grass clippings or manure . For gradation - by - step book of instructions , read thisComposting Guide : Using leave-taking for Composting .
2. Mulch
Leaves are easy to apply , effective , and free ! leave are successful in maintain soil moisture and soil temperature , and preventing mourning band , territory erosion , and soil crush .
Texas A&M AgriLife Extensionsuggests foliage mulch for : Trees and shrubs : 3 - 6 column inch layer shredded leavesFlower beds : 2 - 3 inches tear up leavesVegetable Gardens : heavyset layer for weed prevention in beds or between garden rows for walkwaysYards : hayloft leaves to rip up and remain on lawn
3. Save Leaves for Next Season
Bag and hold open leafage for compost , mulch or the garden . follow saltation you ’ll be excited to have leaves to use .
4. Leaf Mold
Leaf moldis different than compost . Leaf mold is a dirt amendment produced when a pile of leaves break down . Nitrogen ingredient are not added to the mickle , as you would compost .
Leaf mold improves ground moisture retention and is often used as mulch or tilled into the soil . Leaves , by themselves , take 6 – 12 months to stop down .
5. Donate Leaves to Gardeners or Gardening Programs
Try looking for urban community of interests gardens or schools with erudition schoolroom to donate your leaf . Many times they do not have access to fall down leaves and would apprise the donation .
6. Wildlife Habitat: Brush Shelter
Use go forth inbrush sheltersto build wildlife habitats . Build the wildlife shelter for an animal about the size of a rabbit . You ’ll be stunned the variety of wildlife domicile in brush shelters .
Start with a bottom of leaves and place logs or larger branches on top of them . Stack somewhat of a dome with tree diagram limb , lessen the branch size as it get high . Fill the structure with leaves for sum up tax shelter and to shelter the dirt ball and pupae on the leafage . You might even see fauna , like chipmunks , running forth with leaves for their nest or toads hole up in folio litter .
Do n’t want a large wildlife home ground ? Just move the leaves on the lawn to the corner to create leaf pile for wildlife and expend the folio clay sculpture as it decompose .
7. Art
pull in leave to make fall collages , leaf prints , or to decorate your home . Fall leaves make a gravid table centrepiece .
8. Exercise
According to WebMD’sFun and Fit Family Guide , raking and bagging leaf on average burns 350 – 450 nutritionist’s calorie per 60 minutes . Add jumping in a leafage pile ( and raking it again ) for more play and practice session .
Don’t want to clean up your yard at all?
You may be in fortune . Take this one measure further and readBefore You Clean Up Plant Debris , Consider the Benefits of a Messy Yard . One works in this article house 31 unlike species of insects . It ’s a potent argument for gardeners to wait until leap to clean plant debris .
Looking to learn more about why you should not rake leaves?
jibe out these helpful site for more information : Using Leaves for Compostingfrom Compost GuideLeaf Management Planfrom Texas A&M AgriLife ExtensionDon’t Rake Your Leavesfrom USA Today
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