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Why You Should Leave Your Fallen Leaves Alone and Not Rake
17.11.2023 - 18:07 / thespruce.com / Sophia Beams
If you hate raking your yard during the fall, you might be in luck. The appropriately named «Leave the Leaves» initiative says it’s better to avoid touching the leaves in your yard, instead leaving them to decompose naturally over the winter.
There are a few things you should consider before throwing away your rake, and we're here to shed some light on why you should consider leaving your leaves.
Leaves left on the ground to decompose will fertilize the soil by adding microbes. According to the USDA, they also create an insulating layer during the cold winter and even provide homes to insects and small critters throughout the season.
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If you harbor a layer of leaves during the winter, you might find your garden full of gorgeous butterflies—whose larvae live under autumn leaves—come spring.
Leaf layers can even prevent unwanted weeds from growing once the weather warms up. After wintering your yard with leaves, it will be ready to fertilize new growth, revealing healthy grass and the means to create an even healthier garden.
Letting a layer or two of leaves stick around to cover your yard is a great way to help your grass and the local ecosystem. But don't leave them piling up too high: several thick layers of leaves can have the unwanted effect of smothering your grass, which will definitely reveal issues once the grass is uncovered in spring.
The Spruce / Evgeniya Vlasova
Your best bet is to use a rake or leaf blower to move most of the leaves off the grass and over to the dirt. You can pile them up to create leaf mulch, or just allow them to decompose into soil instead of grass (and house insects and critters during the cold seasons).
When piling onto soil or garden beds, create a layer about
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