Fall is certainly upon us and it is a beautiful time of year with the leaves changing color on the trees. You can find yourself a nice scenic drive to take in the beauty and find inspiration. But as the weather continues to cool and winter winds pick up, all of the leaves will soon end up on the ground. What do you do with the leaves on your property? Have you debated on raking the leaves versus letting them sit through winter?
At GreenSweep we use two approaches to deal with leaves: mowing and clearing. When leaf coverage is not heavy on grassy areas we mow right over. The mower’s blades chop the leaves into fine pieces that will decompose putting a lot of nutrients back into the soil. Once the coverage overtakes the grass, usually throughout the month of November, we clear the leaves from the grassy surfaces for a couple of reasons. First, excessive leaf coverage that remains over the winter can cause turf disease like snow mold or damage from critters like moles and mice who have found a comforting home under all those leaves. Second, too many leaves can smother the grass preventing it from getting nutrients and restricting growth come spring. Avoiding those issues will lead to a better-looking lawn down the road. We also use blowers and rakes to clear leaves off walkways, driveways, patios, courtyards, and other hard surfaces as the wet leaves can cause damage and become a hazard when wet and slippery.
If you want to go the extra mile and get more from your leaves, you can mow over them and collect the fragments to turn into compost or leaf mold. The effort can be substantial and time-consuming, but you can end with some nutrient-dense material to be used elsewhere on your property.
Do you have a plan for the leaves on your property? Have you considering leaf removal as part of your seasonal grounds maintenance? Let us know how we can help!
