New thinking regarding leaf disposal

I guess old habits are the hardest to break. Walking down the boulevard, under a canopy of beautiful fall leaves that hadn’t yet dropned from the trees, I watched homeowners deal with the carpet of leaves on the lawn, sidewalk and street. At one house the entire family was out raking and bagging. At another a woman was blowing the leaves from her yard out into the gutter. And one man was methodically mowing the leaves, letting the chopped pieces fall back onto the grass. The first two will have the cleanest lawns this fall, but my guess is the man will have the healthiest next summer. Raking and burning leaves used to be a fall ritual. Then bagging or raking into the gutter for city crews to come along and vacuum away became the norm. But gardening experts now tell us leaves aren’t just a nuisance to be swept up and thrown away. If we take a little time (not as long as it would take to rake most yards) to shred the leaves with the mower, as the man was doing, we’re actually treating the grass to a healthy mulch. And, we keep the leaves - and plastic bags - out of area landfills. According to the Lawn Institute online, “Studies at Purdue University show that mulching leaves into the turf can actually be beneficial to the soil and grass. Soils with mulched leaves showed increased microbial activity and better water infiltration. A Michigan State University study showed that when leaves were mulched into established turf the grass greened up quicker in the spring and also had fewer dandelions in the spring.” Fewer dandelions means less weed-killer which is better for the soil and our water supply. If we can leave behind the idea of a pristine green lawn, we save time and energy. And by feeding next year’s lawn we actually make less work for ourselves, use less water and cut down on the amount of toxins needed to sustain it. All we have to do is tweak the ritual. Families can still gather to rake big piles of leaves for the kids to jump into. And after the fun, it only takes a few minutes to chop them all up and scatter them around. For more tips to having a healthier lawn visit www.thelawninstitute.org.