Every fall at this time I hear someone bragging about “raking 27 bags of leaves this weekend”. Clearly they spent the whole weekend slaving away, getting blisters and a backache, all for what- depriving the turf of free fertilizer.
The best thing to do with your leaves is to mulch them into your turf with your lawn mower. It doesn’t matter if it is a mulching unit or not. If it isn’t simply mow with the bagging attachment off until the leaves have been ground into small pieces. The benefits are outstanding. When the ground leaves decompose they will release dozens of essential nutrients and provide a fine layer of insulation throughout the cold winter months.. Your grass will absorb these nutrients throughout the winter.
When I worked at Indian Hills Country Club the entire fall was spent blowing leaves off of fairways, into the rough where the mowers would grind the leaves into fine mulch. The next spring rough green up was incredible. By early March the bluegrass had taken on a deep emerald color and it was extremely disease resistant all season long.
Hey rakers- avoid the hassle and mulch your leaves this year! What a simple way to introduce environmental sustainability into your home landscape and avoid such a worthless chore. This year I encourage you to keep your 27 bags of leaves out of the landfill and put them into your turf- next spring you’ll be happy you did.