Many people are obsessed with raking their yards to look like freshly vacuumed carpets. This approach can be stressful and time-consuming. While it’s important to make sure your grass isn’t covered with leaves going into the winter, the good news is there are benefits to not leaving your yard spotless.
A little leaf coverage is good, but not too much
The University of Minnesota’s Turfgrass Science Program provides helpful guidelines for dealing with your fall leaves. They say the most important point with fall cleanup is that the tree leaves are not covering a significant portion of your yard. Too many leaves on your lawn going into winter is harmful. Leaves smother the grass and inhibit growth in the spring. Leaves covering your grass also promote snow mold diseases. And, a layer of leaves makes an attractive habitat for voles and mice and they can cause turf damage over the winter. They recommend leaving 10-20% coverage of your lawn.
Rake, bag or mulch? Mulch!
The three options to take care of leaves are raking, bagging, or mulching. The Turfgrass Science program explains why mulching is the most beneficial for your yard. Mulching the leaves with a mower incorporates beneficial nutrients and organic matter into the lawn and soil. Some leaf types, like maples, have even been shown to reduce weed seed germination when mulched into a lawn. The leaves of honey locusts may add a significant amount of nitrogen to lawns. Their leaves fix nitrogen from the atmosphere just like soybeans, so higher leaf nitrogen contents in these leaves transferred to the soil is possible.
Successful mulching requires chopping leaves into small pieces. This requires more frequent mowing in the fall, and you may need to do multiple passes with the mower to mulch the leaves sufficiently.
If you do choose to rake or bag your leaves, make sure to compost them.
If you have a question about mulching or general fall lawn preparation or would like help getting your yard ready for winter, contact the experts at Organic Lawns by LUNSETH.