It is mid-October and everywhere the leaf blowers are moaning a dirge. As if the heavy grey skies and bare trees were not grim enough.
Yesterday, two young men from a lawn-care company spent the afternoon blowing leaves across the grass at the ambulance station opposite my house. They arranged the leaves in windrows, then jumped in the truck and left for the night. They returned this morning with a walk-behind leaf vacuum. It moves very slowly, and sounds like a bag-pipe stuck on a bad note. It is rolling over the windrows, sucking the leaves into a large bag. No leaf is left behind. From the bag, the leaves are transferred to the back of a truck to be taken for disposal somewhere, probably the dump, probably not a compost pile.
A less mechanically-equipped gardener could have raked and removed the leaves at least three times over the same period.
But really, why would any gardener want to remove the leaves at all?
Well, I have read this week’s yard-care advice section of the local newspaper, where-in the very conventional expert says you need to rake up the leaves at this time of year. If you don’t, calamity will ensue – matting, moulds, rot, and perhaps worst of all for the perfect-lawn enthusiast, messiness.
I spent an hour on the weekend giving my lawns a light raking. I left a lot of leaves out there, so that my work probably looks a little shoddy to the passer-by. I poured the collected leaves into the vegetable, perennial and shrub beds to cover any bare soil and act as a three inch deep layer of mulch for the winter, and as microbe food in the spring. The mulch insulates the soil, prevents erosion, keeps weeds from sprouting, helps retain moisture, and protects roots. The bacteria, fungus, and other beneficial microbes and insects in the soil will eat the leaves and produce the nutrients needed for next spring’s plant growth.
For the same mulching and microbial reasons, I never rake any leaves from under the lilac or cotoneaster hedges, or from under the fruit trees and bushes. In fact, I spread excess leaves from the lawn (and those collected from friends and neighbours) to these areas to replenish mulch being eaten and transformed into plant nutrients by the soil critters.
From time to time throughout the winter, I’ll sprinkle some of the leaves onto the compost heap. This will add carbon to balance the nitrogen from the kitchen scraps that we continually add to the heap over winter.
The gardener’s Law of Return says that for plants to be healthy and productive, what is taken away by the gardener (or nature) in the form of fruit, vegetables and leaves, must be returned to the soil and the plant. A thriving garden eats leaves. Leaves are not garbage. They are not crumbs on the carpet. You can let most of them stay where they fall, shred them and spread them, or add them to the compost pile to later return as brown gold. Do this every year, and watch your garden grow.