18 Comments

Insanity = raking up leaves from the lawn in Fall, burning fossil fuel to transport them to a landfill, and applying chemical fertilizer/insecticide to the lawn in Spring. Just leave the damn leaves! 🍁

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And then burning fossil fields to bring in plastic bags filled with a decomposed version of what you trucked out 6 months prior.

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Exactly! I work for a Chiropractor who covers her beds each Fall (they look neater that way, she tells me), then buys large quantities of bagged manures and other amendments each Spring to help her raised beds stay fertile. I asked why she doesn't just use the leaves that "pollute" her backyard (the neighbor has a gigantic overhanging maple tree that generously frosts her lawn with leaves each Fall), and she looked at me, puzzled. Maybe this year, she'll try a different approach...

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I cannot tell you how sad I feel when I see people raking or worse) burning leaves! I have a farm in central Illinois. In the fall I drive through the alleys of the local small towns and collect their bagged leaves. For leaf mulch and also for my hen house. I use them for bedding (later it makes amazing compost) - the hens love it when I line their laying boxes in leaves too.

Thank you for a great article!

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There cannot be anything better than natural composting. In addition to leaf beds (we mix in grass cuttings), as you describe, we pile garden rubbish and old hay from our rescue kashmirs. One can never have too much organic material.

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This is so awesome. We’re doing a demo next week in our public garden and will add a demo of this. We love experimenting with ways to grow potatoes, and also love encouraging people to leave the leaves. Thanks much!

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Love this article! Thank you for writing it. I will share with my audience as it’s a topic I cover every fall. 😜 what a great explanation.

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Thanks for sharing this, Liz! I might have missed it otherwise.

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Excellent !

All we have around here are oak leaves. Can we use them in the same way?

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author

Oak is great! Really any except too many needles from pine or spruce. But mixed in with enough deciduous leaves, they’re fine too.

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Thank you!

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Yes! Oak leaves are some of the BEST leaves.

Some species of moths and butterflies lay their eggs on the undersides of the oak leaves. Leaving them there (or even raking on site) gives these species the best chance at survival.

😊

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Thank you! Exciting news for me!

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Great title, I was really intrigued by it. What a great concept to encourage. Thanks.

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Our land is dominated by fir, hemlock, and cedar, so I’m a little jealous of that bounty of leaves as mulch!

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I think this is the year where I finally try to make all the zillions of sycamore leaves that fall into my yard into proper compost — thanks for the reminder on how it’s really not that complicated!

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author

Give it a shot! Let me know how it goes.

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I love everything about this post.

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