To Rake or Not To Rake

It's time to start raking leaves. Or is it?

Most of us rake up our leaves. Some of us bag them, some can dump them on the roadside and let the town pick them up. Fewer people mulch them. But you might want to consider letting them stay where they fall.

The leaves that fall and stay there in woods (known as leaf litter) are habitat for salamanders, spiders, centipedes, millipedes, worms, and lots of insects that most of can't identify.

Leaves are important for wildlife and there is a cycle of life contained there. If you raked under that fallen forest log, you would be destroying some wildlife.

One species you might find there are the butterflies that find shelter (in the egg, pupal, or adult form) as a protected place to over winter and wait for spring.

Besides shelter, leaves offer food to some invertebrates who in turn help break down the leaves, which feeds the soil.

Deeper piles support spiders but ladybugs, salamanders, toads, and other predators of pest insects (like aphids) are fine with naturally occurring piles.

Of course, I understand if you don't want piles on your front lawn, but consider leaving a pile or two in the backyard corner. When spring comes, you can watch the birds picking through the leaves in search of a natural meal.

And more people are trying out leaving the leaves and using them as mulch or running a mulching mower over them and letting the leaves help the lawn's soil.

Leaving them is not as easy with all the oak leaves that I have in my backyard. Their size and chemicals make them slower to break down than most other deciduous tree leaves. They might form a mat that could actually rot your plants underneath.

Even if you rake your leaves or don't have leaves to clean up, there is the possibility for a good lesson here for kids on what is "alive" in and under those leaf piles.

Check out these sites for information about leaves, raking (or not raking), and leaf pile  wildlife:
agreenhand.com/who-lives-in-the-leaves-great-play-outdoors-fun/
beautifulwildlifegarden.com
healinglandscapes.org
insects.about.com

                 

And don't forget The Lorax  by Dr. Seuss. I wrote a post about that book elsewhere but it's a good environmental stewardship tale for all of us.