Maybe you are more of a leaf-blower type of person anyhow?
As a side note – don’t you just love watching kids jump in a pile of leaves? Such joy.
But I digress.
Here’s 10 fantastic ways to get those leaves to work for you instead of you doing all the work!
1.) Mow the leaves and lawn one last time….
Tom borrows our neighbor’s lawn mower for one last late-season mowing. Not only does our lawn look ready for winter but the mower chops up those leaves. Poof. Gone. No need to rake.
Now that fall is here, we set the blades lower than usual so the grass is cut shorter than in summer. After all, the weather is cooler and we are getting more rain. No fear that we’ll kill the lawn.
Cutting the grass a tad shorter also increases air circulation while discouraging fungal diseases. This method works particularly well if your leaves are small or medium-sized.
Similar to grass clippings, chopped leaves decompose quickly and add valuable organic matter with nutrients to the soil. It’s free too, folks!
This reduces the need for fertilizers. If you do notice any clumps of leaves or grass that didn’t get evenly dispersed, you’ll want to spread them out before the snow comes so you don’t kill your lawn.
2.) Do nothing with your leaves ~ let them be!
This is especially true if you live way out in the country with few neighbors. Who cares what happens to the leaves? No one will be bothered by them.
Leaves decompose quickly and feed organic matter to the soil.
But I live in suburbia. When those strong gusts of wind come up, all my leaves head straight to the neighbors fence. Then they would have to deal with them. Not exactly fair.
We love that fence. It blocks a super busy road protecting my kids and pets from harm.
So the “do nothing” isn’t an option for Tom and I but hopefully it’s a choice for you!
Big “green” flag.…if you leave a thick layer of leaves on your lawn, especially large clumpy leaves, they will block sunlight and promote turf grass fungal diseases.
3.) Rake the leaves over the roots of your trees & shrubs
This is a great rake at a frugal price if you’re in the market for a new one.
4.) Mulch the flower beds
Your chopped up leaves are the ideal mulch for all gardens. And it’s free mulch.
It’s best not to mulch around the crowns of plants until the ground has frozen because it can encourage fungal growth (bleh) or invite rodents to nest there. We’ve had a problem with rodents in the past! Bunnies are cute but only up to a point.
As soon as the ground does freeze, spread the leaves around the plants up to 3 inches thick!
5.) Make a leaf pile and leave it
Don’t hesitate to make a large leaf pile in a convenient spot in your lawn. After all, a leaf pile is basically a compost pile and we love compost!
As long as your pile is strictly leaves (no stinky food compost, please!) it won’t smell or attract rats. And yes, we wrote the books on rats. Holy moly infestation but I’ll save that post for another day.
Cover your pile with a tarp or just let it sit. If you do cover it with a tarp, feel under the pile in a few months and you’ll likely discover heat, even in the midst of winter! This shows that decomposition happens in real life.
One steamy tip? Savvy gardeners place this leaf pile where they desire to create a new garden bed the following year.
Before you cover your leaf pile with a tarp…let the kids jump in it a few times. Okay, maybe a couple of hundred times first!
6.) Create a leaf pile and cage it
7.) Begin full scale composting like a champ
Tom and I wanted to be able to add lots of food scraps to our bin without any risk of attracting rodents, we got ones with screw-on lids.
8.) Use the leaves for sheet composting in your raised beds or perennial flower beds
It certainly allows us to start the season off right the following year. Weedless. Yay!
One spectacular option for your leaves it to dispose of all your leaves in the garden and cover them with either newspaper or cardboard. You can do this in your raised beds, perennial beds or any garden planted directly in the ground.
Then you layer compost or mulch on top. Not only will the weeds be smothered but you’ll add organic matter back into the soil. Everyone wins.
In spring, the goal is to be able to plant directly in the soil when you turn it under. It’s a good idea to spread tarps over the compost to allow that decomposition to happen even faster.
When those big gust of wind come up in winter it’s smart to lay rocks or bricks at the corner of each tarp to keep them in place until spring.
Quick recap: Layer 1.) Leaves 2.) Cardboard or newspaper 3.) Compost or mulch 4.) A tarp.
9.) Bag and store your leaves for down the road use
10.) Kick em to the curb….
To level with you 100%, when my kids see leaves in the street raked by the meticulous homeowner, they are unable to resist temptation and jump in your pile! So I apologize ahead of time.
And for those of you who bag your leaves? Yep. Guilty is charged. Tom and I will haul your bagged leaves away in our mini-van for future use in our garden. So thanks for bagging them for us!
I’ve never thought about using the leaves! Excellent idea!
We use our leaves for composting too!
I don’t mind the leaves. Let them lay, I say. Unless you rack them into a pile so you and your grandkids can have a little fun.
mulch
Love you cotests.
I use the leaves for mulch in my flower beds and around trees and bushes. And also to play in with the grandkids. There is plenty to go around
Very pretty things on the page
I grew up with piles of leaves to jump in then a fire and potato’s put in the fire to bake.
I like just letting the leaves be. It’s much easier. Thanks for posting!
I leave them, most blow away during windy days.
I enjoyed the article. During fall visits by our grandchildren, we have an area set aside for leaves to jump in, leaf fights, etc. However, we use a chipper shredder for the rest of our leaves; as well as acorns, and sticks with less than a 3″ circumference. While we live in SE Texas, notoriously sandy &/or clayish, we’ve managed to amend the leaves/sticks/acorns into our soil to obtain a nice richness and texture. And, by applying the material as a mulch, the drudgery of weeding has been significantly reduced. (What follows happened last summer, when we cut down an old oak tree. Under a branch I found a copperhead snake, which I killed, then absentmindedly threw in with items needing mulching. As I’d forgotten to remove the snake’s head; and, the fangs’ contained venom, I asked my husband to remove the dead snake from the pile. He didn’t find/notice the snake, nor did I find pieces of it in the fine grindings I worked into the soil later. To my surprise, snakes can be recycled! However, I’ll remember to remove the head of poisonous snakes in the future. And, I don’t kill nonpoisonous snakes, which I adore.)
composting is a good idea
Great suggestions! I plan to use several of them this year.
We never bag leaves anymore. Mow them over, dust to dust!
Thanks
Wow
Yes, we leave them and just mow over them.
We get tons of oak leaves and mow over most of them!
In the town where I grew up everyone put the leaves at the curb. It made such a beautiful pathway with the different colors. Now we put the leaves in the compost sometimes.
Well, all of this is such a wealth of information. I haven’t started raking yet, but I now I am excited to!! Thank you for posting this.
Thanks for all the great ideas with the leaves.
Compost grows the best of everything!
I really like those chairs.
This is a great idea!
As a child I use to enjoy raking all the leaves up which fell from the trees. Thanks for all the wonderful ideas. The compost would be great for making things to grow. I’d love to win. Thanks for the chance.
leaf pile for the grandkids and mulch
I like the mow your lawn at the end of the season with the leaves idea. I didn’t realize it helps the soil too. We have a ton of leaves and it would be a big help to do it this way.
I love these alternate uses for leaves. I have tried to talk the hubby into doing the mowing one, maybe now he won’t think I’m so crazy after I show him this blog post!!! Thank you!!
Lots of awesome suggestions
THANK YOU
I live in a condo community so the leaves are gathered by the landscapers. But I’m on the board, I can ask what’s done with them!
Very informative! We use leaves for our worm farm!
I read an article like yours making a few of the same points. I told my husband that he didn’t have to go crazy raking up the leaves 🍁 I read him part of the article. Just like I’m going to share this article with him. We now have a mulching lawnmower and he still wants to pick up what he can. I told him that he is actually hurting our lawn and his health! He is in his 70’s and is slowing down. Boy he is stubborn! We have a neighborhood app for our village. Our neighbors ask for some mulch for their gardens. Unfortunately, I can’t garden anymore. Thank you for sharing these points with us! Be safe!
I’ve been mulching for years. It is the easiest way to deal with leaves and is great for my lawn.
nice
Interesting article and great comments. I especially enjoyed the one about the snake in the pile of leaves. I saved leaves for mulching in Colorado and ended up with snakes in my leaves.
Love crunching through leaves in the fall.
Thank you for the information 😄
I absolutely love these chairs, they look amazing and they remind me of the chairs my family had when I was a kid & we used to lounge around them all Summer long. Perfect prize, thank you.
love the chairs love leaves these make me happy
“AWESOME”!!!!!!!!!!
I to use mine for mulch since I live in the city I HAVE TO RAKE THEM BUT i PUT THE IN A BIG BIN BY MY STORAGE SHED ,
I love the smell of freshly raked leaves. It smells like Fall. After I put them into a great big pile my granddaughters and myself jump in them 🙂 Wonderful memories!!!
I live in the country so I just mow my leaves
great info
Love these suggestions on composting!
I love raking them up into big piles and then letting the kids jump in them.
I love to make a big pile of leaves for my dog to play in. She has so much fun.
All great ideas !!
Living in Florida we don’t have lots of leaves but I enjoy viewing the colors
Compost, compost, compost!
I like Do Nothing Let Them Be. That’s the easiest and laziest. 🙂
Growing up in West Virginia and now living in Texas, I miss all the beautiful leaves changing colors.
Growing up in West Virginia and now living in Texas I miss all the beautiful colors as the leaves turn.
I’ve always been on the side of doing nothing … nature take’s care of them by blowing them away or they get stuck in the plant beds and serve as mulch.
We mow our leaves
Wow. I like the curves
Adam Vodovnik
Kyle Wainionpaa
Jim McKenzie
Always mulch the leaves and put them in the flower beds over the winter. Great for the soil.
I am a first time home owner and this will be my first fall with leaves to compost. They haven’t started falling yet – but I’m so excited to compost this year – my garden is excited too 🙂
I love the sun in the leaves.
I always put mine to good use.
Love this
We moved in May to a new home where we now have a sizable yard. We are now getting quite a few leaves. These tips were awesome & really helpful to me!
Fortunately, I live in Los Angeles area and avoid raking leaves! Of course I do sometimes have to blow them – usually the leaves from my neighbor’s non-fruiting (unfortunately) avocado tree.
I mulch some of the leaves into the lawn with our lawn mower, some leaves become mulch in the landscape around plants and the rest goes into the compost pile. I started the compost pile along time ago, in part because I never had room in our green waste bin.
I used to live in a house with a backyard so raking leaves was a pain, now I live in a condo and don’t have to do that anymore but great article and tips.
The mulch is good idea. I should remember that for the plants around the house.
leaf blower!
We mulch our leaves, I done it since childhood.
Always put our leaves in the garden, like in your suggestion.
Love your web page!
i have so many leaves!! i NEED to use them as compost!! never knew this!
We pretty much mow over the leaves to break them down. We have a small composter so we stuff a few in there but it is mostly made for kitchen scraps. Use to have a large composter but the dog loved the smell of it and ripped it apart.
Love the blog. Brings back memories of living in the Poconos in pennsylvania, so much leaves to take. I miss it now that I live in California, the leaves go from green to brown, composting is a bit hard in the area I live in, due to fire dangers.
thanks for all the good ideas for composting!
One comment about leaves that is important is not to make a pile by the road or in the road. Kids like to hide in the leaves and can get run over. Happens every year that it happens to a kid
Mulch them with lawn mower.
I blow ’em into the flower beds,let em compost, double mow the yard to chop em up & let them sit. rake some to compost in a leaf pile for next years garden.
There is a few I rake but for the most part I mulch them with the lawn mower. My trees are still small and I don’t have a ton of leaves but I do have a lot of trees. Mostly fruit trees that will remain small so I have it pretty good.
Already do several of these.
Great suggestions. Also, I would love to win the Navy Adirondack chairs for my son’s new home!
Great tips!
I didn’t realize so many things to do with our leaves. Great ideas. Thank you for the information.
I don’t get that many leaves here in CA, but this is great for the bit we do have
Leaves are one of the best things to mix in when making compost. Its nature own way of rejuvenating its own soil for nutrient rich soil.
Great info
We don’t get many leaves in our yard, but these are great ideas for the ones we do get
It gets so windy here I never have any leaves to rake, lol.
We have been talking about making a leaf pile and hiding dog treats in the bottom. And setting the doggies loose! I like to play with the fall leaves, haha. Otherwise I just let them be.
Composting is wonderful for the Garden!
Thank you for the great info
I do use leaves to mulch the garden. Thanks for all of these other great ideas.
We compost our leaves and are thinking about using some to mulch our asparagus this year. Thanks so much! Take care!
Most of the leaves that accumulate in my yard are black walnut. Since they have juglone I don’t use them as compost. They just compost where they fall.
We don’t have that many leaves, they just fly away.
Great suggestions, thanks!
We already compost our leaves and put it in our garden. Makes for a great soil.
Good to know more
love the info you share!
Have always used leaves for mulch; even scour the neighborhood for bagged leaves to add to mine. I have lots of plants that need protected from our cold winters too.
Thanks for the sweepstakes and chance to win.
this gives you some great ideas. But we don’t get many leaves here.
So, my husband mows them!! We both hate to rake leaves! I get blisters. Thank you. Happy Fall!
I love the tips! I personally put all of our leaves at the base of our trees to make mulch for the next year. I also use them over my hibiscus plants to give them more protection and make the soil more nutrient for the next year.
We rake the leaves just to play in.
We used to make pictures with the leaves and little bit of paint.
I have been blowing/raking them to the curb but I think I will try composting some and rake some over the tree base. thx
I learned a lot from this blog post! thank you thank you. I don’t mind raking leaves in the fall, and now I know assorted ways to repurpose them and make them work for me!
Awesome ideas I had no clue you could use leaves as mulch thank you for the great information!
The read was very interesting, informative, & even educational. The tips on how to use our fall leaves were great. I definitely learned a few things. I enjoyed reading the article.
We have hundreds of trees so we leave some for the critters, we rake, we blow, we even have some vacuumed.
Great ideas! I love to use leaves in my compost!
I have been making leaf mulch and spreading over my garden beds. It looks nice and neat and I feel like I am doing good things for my soil. I have never done this before but have heard it is really good for the soil.
I use the leaves in my compost pile. I wish I didn’t have so many pine needles though. They outnumber the leaves probably 100 to 1 lol. I used to have an old mower for chopping the pine needles (I’m a lawn mower killer), although they still take much longer to break down. I too have taken bagged leaves from neighbors to use for compost.
I always mulch my leaves and spread them in my veggie gardens. And the worms love ’em too. 😉
I lo e the leaves bbut they do suck to clean up.
So many great tips! I still love the thought of jumping in a pile of leaves like I did when I was a kid and had all that energy. lol We chop ours with the mower too. Great idea for composting them. It makes such rich soil for later use.
Composting
I sure wish I had some leaves to compost with. I think I’ll work on the carboard idea for pesky weeds. Thank you!
Great comosting tips…I have a ton of leaves to still rake…great ideas!