Why Leaving the Leaves Is Better for Your Yard

It’s time to rake your lawn when the NYT starts posting articles with biologists explaining why you shouldn’t rake up the fallen leaves.

That campaign has spread awareness that fallen leaves provide overwintering habitat for many ecologically critical organisms. But that’s not all they do. Now, we can look at the consequences of leaf removal by the numbers, data that makes a more nuanced case for a gentler approach that supports plants and soil, and also offers insights into the most effective how-to practices to employ.

I don’t know where these eggheads live, but their houses don’t have the suburban green carpets that the rest of us envy. 

The entomologist looks pretty young, so he may have a nice yard because he lives with his parents and his career is a youthful rebellion.

“We actually have a lot more things emerging than I think many homeowners think we do,” Dr. Ferlauto said. “In a square meter of yard where you leave your leaves, there’s on average almost 2,000 insects that will emerge over the course of the spring.”

Maybe some homeowners care about breeding insects in their lawns.  They are the sanctimonious types who drone on about composting whenever they come over to borrow your tools.

Though it is often recommended that rather than cart leaves in bags to the curb, we compost them — an approach that does reduce what goes to the landfill — a well-managed compost pile achieves temperatures that will kill some organisms beneficial to your yard, Dr. Ferlauto said.

Uh oh, now composting is bad.

Not raking up the fallen leaves results in extra moisture, more moss, blocked sunlight, bare patches and acidic soil.  Most of us don’t care about breeding more insects.  Some insects are beneficial, some are detrimental, and we’ve got enough shit to worry about to wade into that battle.

Soil carbon is a key to plants’ access to nutrition, and to the soil’s moisture-holding capacity, which is beneficial to plants and can also help prevent runoff.

I don’t give away my carbon, but don’t over think this stuff.  Use a mulching mower to dice up the leaves until there are too many.  Bagging leaves for a landfill seems wasteful of landfill space, bags and the city service department.

Lots bigger than an acre should have a spot for yard debris.  Go hog wild with composting if you want, or just dump the debris in the back corner.  The service department should not be involved.

For smaller lots, keeping a nice lawn is even more important to showcase your diligence and keep up appearances .  If there isn’t room for composting, the city needs to pick up yard waste and hopefully dump it somewhere to break down.

I blow my leaves into the woods, and nobody is complaining.