Mulch Autumn Leaves, Skip the Bags

Source: marylenalynx.blogspot.com via Kirsi *itKuPiLLI* on Pinterest

With all this nice weather we've been having, the past two days have been spent on leaf clean-up. Instead of bagging them, we rake and blow them into big piles and mow over. We've got a mulching mower which makes short work of the leaves, chopping them into little pieces. Much of this remains on the grass to sift down to the soil as natural fertilizer. The excess is raked into piles, and shoveled off into the beds for mulch. We end up doing this several times in the fall in order to catch all the leaves, and make sure the leaves are chopped small enough.

Reason for leaf mulching:

• Saves money on bags
  
• Add nutrients back to the soil(free fertilizer)
• Helps the soil retain moisture
• Insulates plants from the winter cold
• Environmentally friendly
  

Tips:

• Make sure your mower blade is sharp
• Lower blade to about 2.5 inches high
• Mow twice or thrice to thoroughly chop up leaves.

Here's a good link on how to compost your leaves over the winter.