Every Fall, millions of Americans repeat the annual ritual of raking and stuffing yard waste bags full of leaves, which are (hopefully) taken to a community composting site, but are more likely picked-up and land-filled or incinerated. Even worse, these same people will hire a lawn service to spray fertilizer on their lawn in the spring and summer in an effort to have the thickest, greenest lawn on the block.
How about killing a few birds with a single stone, do a lot less work and still have that nice green lawn (and be nice to the environment at the same time)? Instead of raking and bagging all of those leaves, it’s far easier and better for your lawn to just chop them up with your mulching lawn mower.
why it matters
In the spring and summer, deciduous trees absorb nutrients and trace elements from the soil through their roots and use those nutrients to grow new wood and a canopy of leaves. In the Fall, the trees drop those leaves, which in turn break-down and return those nutrients and trace elements back to the soil. It’s a cycle that’s literally been going on for millions of years which benefits plants, insects and soil microorganisms.
The problem is by discarding the leaves every fall, you’re effectively depleting the soil of the nutrients that the trees and grass need to be healthy.
Required Tools
- leaf rake
- mulching lawn mower
- bag attachment should be removed and replaced with the mulching plate/baffle plate installed
Step 1 – spread out the leaf piles
In order to make step 2 a little easier, if you have large piles of leaves that have collected, use a rake to spread them out a bit. The goal is to mover the leaves to where you want the mulch, and thin out the piles to make it easier to mulch the leaves with your lawn mower.
step 2 – mulch the leaves
There’s no magic here, just run over the leaves with your mulching lawn mower. I follow the same back and fourth patter as when I’m cutting the lawn. If the leaves are dry, they will almost completely evaporate, disappearing in to the lawn (see images below). You may have to make two passes for all of the leaves to be completely pulverized.
before and after
Below are before and after photos after about 10 minutes of work. The leaves were dry, I had spread them in to a relatively even layer and it took two passes to completely chop-up them up.
references
- Bib Vila – Mulching Leaves: Why Mowing Leaves is Better Than Raking Them
- U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE – This Fall, Leave the Leaves!