Being a vocal anti-lawn person, I’m completely biased on the topics of leaf raking, leaf composting, and yard waste management. I feel our yards need fewer synthetic inputs and a lot more native inputs, in the form of leaf litter.
A city parkscape with loads of free fertilizer covering its grass. Beautiful!
Why Do People Rake Leaves?
When you don’t know how to do something, what is the first thing you do? Well, I’m a DIY type of person (to a fault), so I go to my phone and thumb in “how to _____”. Google knows.
If you ask the internet “Why do we rake leaves?” the predominant result is “Don’t rake your leaves.” Even Bob Vila says mulch them!
And yet, every fall I am shocked, aghast and pinching myself to see all the people piling free fertilizer (that’s what I call it) at the curb. I take my neighbor’s leaves and pile them in my yard!
This dog protects the valuable leaf “litter” in its yard. It’s not going to let anyone rake away this great fertilizer!
4 Benefits of Not Raking Yard Leaves
These are the benefits I see to keeping your leaves in your yard.
Self-Fertilization is Easy & Reduces Fossil Fuel Use
Instead of enjoying nature’s carbon neutral, self-fertilization cycle, the rake-and-take process leaves actually makes leaves a source of more pollution. Minimize the amount of material municipalities have to handle with their diesel-chugging equipment! Fertilize your yard with a free, natural input that requires no fossil fuels. Shall we say “carbon neutral”?
2. Leaf Composting Saves Municipalities Money
As municipal budgets grow thinner, abandoning leaf collection would save millions of dollars over time. Imagine if the municipal budget could divert the funds they spend on leaf collection and put it toward tree planting and care! Now we are making some carbon neutral headway.
I really don’t think I need to go any further than the two points above… but I will!
3. Not Raking Improves Water Quality
Keeping leaves in your yard keeps them out of the water drainage system, which improves our surface water quality. If leaves never get piled in or near the streets they have a harder time entering the drainage system, which leads to our lakes. Extra leaf matter in the lakes leads to eutrophication, where excess nutrients and minerals lead to unhealthy algal blooms.
Raking leaves and leaving them on the curb increases nutrient runoff to our lakes, which causes eutrophication and algal growth.
4. Nitrogen Cycle Has Evolved for Billions of Years
Leaves composting under the tree they fell from, or near it, is how the nitrogen cycle has evolved, and how it works best! Trees evolved with their leaves returning to the soil to feed the roots; this has been working well or millennia, so why change it?
If you really can’t stand seeing leaves on your grass, here’s an alternative: Rake the leaves off the lawn and move them to a leaf composting area off the lawn to sit and compost during the winter off-season. In spring, spread those composted leaves under the trees and in flower beds. Voila! Free, natural fertilizer that is ready to be put back to work.
I’m sure there are more benefits to not raking, but that’s a good start.
Chemlawn (accurate name), Trugreen (misnomer), and any other chemical lawn care company wants everyone to think our lawns need constant fertilizer and pesticide inputs to keep them green and beautiful. How about an annual infusion of some free fertilizer in the form of mulched leaves?
Scientific Research Supports No-Raking Approach
Below are two studies by the university of MN that show leaves have a significant amount of nitrogen in them, and that they can also minimize weed seed germination.
Fallen Leaves Return Nitrogen to the Soil
A Survey to Determine the Baseline Nitrogen Leaf Concentration of Twenty-Five Landscape Tree Species
Ed Perry and Gary W. Hickman
This study shows the nitrogen content in leaves and how your lawn can benefit when you mulch them. Leaves are free fertilizer, unlike the synthetics fertilizers we all pay for. With synthetics, the clients pay for the various services, then the larger community pays for it in the form of lower water quality and environmental degradation, one tiny drop of run-off at a time.
Leaf Mulch Helps Prevent Lawn Weeds
Using Cultural Practices and Leaf Mulch to Control Weeds in Established Turfgrass
Alexander R. Kowalewski, Ronald N. Calhoun, Aaron D. Hathaway, and John N. Rogers III
Here is another study by the university of Minnesota about the potential benefits of mulching leaves on your lawn and suppressing weed seed germination.
Using Cultural Practices and Leaf Mulch to Control Weeds in Established Turfgrass
Alexander R. Kowalewski, Ronald N. Calhoun, Aaron D. Hathaway, and John N. Rogers III
Leaf Composting Steers Nutrients to Our Soil and Away from Landfills
If you really want to see what’s going on around the country, check out this EPA webpage that tracks all the green material our cities and towns create. The last chart is pretty telling… Our municipalities compost around two-thirds of collected yard waste, but a third of it still ends up in the landfill. That is a lot of wasted energy by the trees. We enjoy them in all seasons, and they provide us shade, beauty and greenery. Then, when trees provide perhaps their highest use (fertilizer for our lawns, trees, and shrubs), we pile them up on the curb where gas- and diesel-thirsty machines haul them away.
