WITCHITA, Kan.—It’s only a matter of time before the leaves change colors and fall to the ground, which means it’s almost time for leaf cleanup season.
“In the lawn, we typically want to make sure we don’t allow those leaves to pile up too thick because if the leaves get too thick in the lawn, they can smother out the grass that’s growing underneath and create thin spots,” Sedgwick County Extension Education Center horticulture agent Matthew McKernan recently told The Eagle.
But before you take out your rake or leaf blower for the season, you might want to consider something other than a wholesale clear out. McKernan said there’s another way of getting rid of the leaves that’s actually better for your lawn.
“What a lot of people tend to do is they want to rake up or remove those leaves out of the lawn, but if you have a lawn mower with a mulching blade, it’s going to be great if you can mow over those leaves a couple of times. Break them up into smaller pieces, and those smaller pieces will usually fall down in between the blades of grass and kind of disappear,” McKernan suggested.
Mowing the leaves into tiny peaces creates natural mulch that will serve as fertilizer for your yard, he said.
“That organic matter is going to help increase the health of your soil, recycle some of the nutrients in those leaves back into the soil as well, so we don’t necessarily need to remove or haul of those leaves as long as we can sometimes just break them up into smaller pieces that are less visible and really promote soil health that way,” McKernan said.
If you don’t want to mow over your leaves, you can clean them up in other ways without wasting the nutrients they provide.
“The next best option would be to compost those leaves. Create a pile in the yard where you can put those leaves together, mix it in with a little bit of nitrogen fertilizer to kind of speed up the breakdown of those leaves so it becomes compost sooner. That will then create really good soil to put back in your gardens or put back in your lawn later on next year,” Mckernan said.
What about mulch for the garden or flowerbed?
While leaves provide good mulch for your lawn, they can also give your beds a boost.
McKernan said keeping a layer of leaves in your flowerbed can actually help protect the garden when it starts getting cold outside.
“It’s a good idea to leave some of the leaves in your flowerbeds throughout the winter,” McKernan said. “They’re going to help insulate your plants and prevent winter freeze injury or winter injury.”
While you’re preparing your yard for the cooler temps, now is also a good time to fertilize your lawn, spray for weeds and sow new seeds to help your lawn green up early next spring.
