For many during the fall months, the annual burden of leaf cleanup is a seasonal plague. I’m here to tell you that you can disarm. You can put the blowers, shovels, rakes, and especially those trash bags, down. This can help us save money, but there’s a bigger benefit: Picking up our leaves is oftentimes harmful to the environment, and we are robbing our properties of exactly what they need.

Putting leaves and other garden debris in plastic bags and sending them off to the landfill contributes to U.S solid waste by 13 percent! In the landfill, the leaves lack the oxygen they need to decompose at their normal rate and stay in the landfill much longer and release the greenhouse gas, methane, into our atmosphere.

Many gardeners continuously waste their money every year on harmful chemical weed suppressors like Roundup while simultaneously working hard to remove a natural and free weed suppressor from their yard. Leaves are excellent for suppressing weeds in garden beds.

Using leaves as mulch for your beds also provides the soil with all the nutrients it needs to continue to grow strong and healthy plants. In fact, leaves can supply a wider range of nutrients than a 10-10-10 synthetic fertilizer. They can also be beneficial for your lawns and chopping them up with a mulching mower will only enhance the lushness of your lawn in the spring.

Photos by Ashleigh Newnes

Many of our native critters also rely on leaves for food, nesting material and shelter. They are a vital wildlife habitat. Leaving our fallen leaves is doing our bit for native wildlife and plants and we can sleep better at night knowing we have not wasted our money and time on robbing nature of a cycle it was designed for.