Leaving Your Leaves Is a Good Thing for Your Garden and the Planet

People in my suburban neighborhood are still raking leaves to the curb, and the leaf blowers are still working hard, but maybe there shouldn't be a fall clean-up frenzy.

Many of us have been brought up to believe that a tidy, sterile lawn is the sign of a "good gardener." That bare look is ecologically disastrous.

Walk through a forest now, and the floor is covered in a rich tapestry of leaves. That’s what nature intends.

Leaving the leaves is a matter of life or death for beneficial bugs. Dozens of species that pollinate our crops, eat pests, and power the entire food web survive the winter by hunkering down in the leaf litter. We're talking about native bees, butterflies, moths, and more, who shelter there as adults, eggs, larvae, or cozy cocoons. 

Scientists have been sounding the alarm about a global "insect apocalypse," and by tossing those leaves, we’re essentially trashing their winter homes and their only shot at surviving until spring. 

Your birdfeeder is nice if you keep it stocked, but birds evolved to forage on native seed heads all winter long, so leaving them standing through winter is one of the easiest ways to support bird populations.

Raking and blowing is mostly about aesthetics. The lawn covered with leaves might not be the look you want and thick layers of leaves can turn a lawn patchy, but removing leaves from the lawn and then entirely from your whole landscape might not be necessary. I was even taught to be careful removing the leaf litter too ealy in late winter or early spring because the life beneath wasn't ready to handle the temperature fluctuations.

Putting leaves into my garden beds has become my habit. They become free, nutrient-rich mulch that suppresses weeds and feeds your soil. I do use a mulching mower to shred them into small pieces. And a lot of it goes into my compost, where they will decompose into beautiful leaf mold—one of the best, richest soil amendments on the planet.

Don't pile leaves or mulch right up against the base of tree trunks because tree roots need to breathe.