Fall can be a fun time for many, with leaves turning into a whole kaleidoscope of color. However, once those leaves strut their stuff, they fall off the tree and can be a pain in the backside for homeowners around the country. This has created a very highly contested discussion amongst homeowners about the proper way to deal with fallen leaves.
Looking at the U.S. National Wildlife Federation’s (NWF) Leave the Leaves Report, we’ve learned that homeowners generally fall into three groups: those who leave their leaves, rake their leaves, or mulch their leaves.
Each decision has its advantages, disadvantages, and environmental impacts that we’ll look at below.
“Leaving” the Leaves
Contrary to its name, “leaving” the leaves is actually an active process; it doesn’t simply imply leaving the leaves in your yard untouched. Rather, the National Wildlife Federation defines it as the strategic placement of leaves and yard debris to help wildlife in garden beds, under tree canopies, and compost piles. “You can’t really just leave a thick layer of leaves on the lawn and expect to have a good healthy lawn afterward,” says Susan Barton, a professor of plant and soil sciences at the University of Delaware; your grass itself needs light in order to continue growing properly.
“Leaving” your leaves is the easiest way to recycle this organic matter and reap the benefits for your plant friends; it’s a fairly straightforward process and an excellent alternative to having your leaves carted away in bags. “The leaves have all of the nutrients that plants need,” says Barton. “When they decompose, those nutrients go back into the soil system, and can be taken up by plants.” Fallen foliage not only helps plant life thrive but can also reduce the amount of fertilizer you need to use when it comes time to juice everything up—Barton recommends fertilizing in the fall.
Mulching
“Leaving” your leaves forces you to move them out of your yard and using them elsewhere—meaning the grass misses out on all of the benefits we mentioned. Mulching requires marginally more work but allows your lawn to reap the benefits of the leaves on the ground, and the process is as easy as chopping up the leaves with a lawnmower. The key benefit of mulching is that it speeds up the decomposition process. “When you use a mulching mower and you chop up the leaves…you are allowing the leaves to get down closer to the soil where they can decompose,” says Barton.
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Barton says maintaining a well-manicured lawn maximizes the benefits of mulching these fallen leaves. This all revolves around only chopping 30 percent off the length of your grass every time you mow. “That way the leaf clippings, the lawn clippings, are small enough that they sift down into the soil system,” says Barton. If the grass is too long, all of these clippings will sit on top of the grass instead of penetrating into the soil.
Along with lowering the necessary amount of fertilizer to juice up your lawn—all thanks to the leaves’ nitrogen content—the organic matter in foliage improves the soil structure. “It helps the clay particles pull together into what are called aggregates… with fine pore spaces inside those aggregates, and large pore spaces between aggregates,” says Barton. The small pores hold water and the large pores hold air.
Mulching is another great option for homeowners who worry about their leaves blowing out of their landscape beds and into a neighbor’s yard. “It will be just like the mulch that you purchase…only it’s better because hardwood bark mulch [the store-bought stuff] takes much longer to decompose and forms a hydrophobic crust,” says Barton. It won’t have your lawn looking like the fairway at Augusta National Golf Course overnight, but it will certainly help you get there.
Raking/Collecting
Raking and bagging your leaves is the most labor-intensive method of dealing with leaves in your yard. While having them carted off to a collection facility is the easiest way to clear out your leaves, there’s so much more to be gained by collecting them in your own compost pile. Not only does this allow you to supercharge your compost, but it also means less organic waste out in the ether—that often takes considerably longer to decompose. See below for some of our content about getting your compost setup dialed in.
While raking is a great way to clean up your leaves, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows once those leaves end up in a collection facility. The NWF states that leaves and other yard debris account for more than 13 percent of the nation’s solid waste. Despite being all-natural, this organic matter can actually do a considerable amount of damage to the environment. Without enough oxygen to decompose all of the fallen leaves, this organic matter releases methane gas, which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) states is 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide.
The Verdict
Our research revealed no option is really right or wrong, but we can look at the relative return based on the work you put in. “Leaving” the leaves is one of the easiest options, however, it won’t actually benefit your yard as your grass needs sufficient light to stay alive. Mulching is a great middle ground as you could really just mow your lawn with the leaves still on it.
Raking (and bagging) is one of the most labor-intensive and effective methods; this was especially true for me growing up hauling bags of leaves up the steep sideyard of the Austin, Texas, house I grew up in. Let’s not forget that raked/mulched leaves can also be added to a compost pile.
“It’s important for people to have a bit of a paradigm switch about their lawn,” says Barton. “Instead of thinking about the lawn as the ground cover from property line to property line with a few decorative landscape beds…think about lawn for the purposes that we use it for which is circulation, it’s the only plant you can walk on.”
Along with being a space for entertainment—and even play—the lawn can also be a more valuable ecosystem with planted landscape beds, which bring improved water filtration as well as pulling carbon dioxide much more effectively. According to Barton, there’s a multitude of ways that you can re-envision your landscape.
Matt Crisara is a native Austinite who has an unbridled passion for cars and motorsports, both foreign and domestic. He was previously a contributing writer for Motor1 following internships at Circuit Of The Americas F1 Track and Speed City, an Austin radio broadcaster focused on the world of motor racing. He earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Arizona School of Journalism, where he raced mountain bikes with the University Club Team. When he isn’t working, he enjoys sim-racing, FPV drones, and the great outdoors.
