Mow (Don’t Rake) Your Leaves
Go green, or should I say brown?
Recycle fall leaves into compost, a soil amendment or a nutritious top dressing for the lawn. It saves time, improves your landscape, and is good for the environment.
Mow your leaves and save the clippings to enrich your garden.
Shred fall leaves with your mower and leave them on the lawn. As long as you can see the grass blades for the leaf pieces, your lawn will be fine. Those shredded leaves will break down adding nutrients and organic matter to the soil.
It is also a good time to make your last application of fertilizer for your lawn. Use a slow release organic nitrogen fertilizer, like Milorganite, that won’t burn the lawn. Plus, the phosphorous is non-leaching and recent research found when the micro-organisms break down this fertilizer some of the phosphorous and potassium tied up in the soil is released for plants to use.
In the south, if you are growing Bermuda, St Augustine and other warm weather grasses, you can make their last fertilization about one month before the lawn goes dormant. That’s about the time of the first killing frost. Fertilizing later can result in winter damage.
Bag any leaves you don’t want to leave on the lawn and dig them into annual flower and vegetable gardens. They will break down over winter improving the soil.
Use any remaining shredded leaves as mulch on the soil around perennials, trees and shrubs. The shredded leaves help conserve moisture, moderate temperature extremes and reduce weed problems. And once decomposed, help improve the soil.
Still have leaves left? Start a compost pile by mixing fall leaves with other yard waste. Don’t add aggressive weeds or those gone to seed.
Also, leave insect and disease infested or chemically treated plant debris out of the pile. Don’t add fat, meat and other animal products that can attract rodents. Moisten and occasionally turn the pile to speed up the process. Soon you will have a wonderful soil conditioner to put back into your landscape.
Nationally known gardening expert, TV/radio host, author & columnist Melinda Myers has 30 years of horticulture experience and has written over 20 gardening books. She hosts the nationally syndicated Melinda’s Garden Moment segments which air on 89 TV and radio stations throughout the U.S. She is a columnist and contributing editor for Birds & Blooms magazine. Myers hosted “The Plant Doctor” radio program for over 20 years as well as Great Lakes Gardener on PBS. She has a master’s degree in horticulture, is a certified arborist and was a horticulture instructor with tenure. For more information, visit Myers’ website: www.melindamyers.com.
