Hate Raking Leaves? Here’s Your Excuse to Stop

Fall in Central New York comes with a pretty predictable weekend routine. The leaves start changing, they look beautiful for about five minutes, and then suddenly a gust of wind blows and every single one of them is in your yard.

That's usually when we grab the rake, drag out the leaf blower and spend an entire afternoon trying to make the lawn look like leaves never existed.

Well, here's your excuse to skip some of that work this year. Leaving at least some of those fallen leaves behind can actually be better for your yard, your soil and all the tiny creatures trying to survive Central New York's winter.

Your Leaves Are Basically Free Fertilizer

We spend a lot of time and money trying to make our lawns and gardens healthier when the trees are literally dropping free nutrients all over the yard. As leaves decompose, they return nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium to the soil.

They also add organic matter, which can help the soil retain moisture and improve its overall health. Instead of bagging all of those nutrients up and hauling them away, you can put them to work in your own yard.

There's A Lot Living Under Those Leaves

That pile of leaves may look like a mess to you, but to plenty of creatures, it's home.

Fallen leaves provide insulation and protection for insects and other wildlife during the colder months. Butterflies, moths and other insects can spend the winter among the leaves in different stages of their life cycles.

Salamanders, frogs and other small animals can also use leaf litter for shelter. That's especially important here in Central New York, where those creatures need somewhere to ride out months of freezing temperatures, snow and ice.

Removing every leaf from the property can also mean removing some of the wildlife already hiding inside them.

Leaves Can Protect Your Garden All Winter

Instead of thinking of leaves as something you need to get rid of, think of them as free mulch. Moving whole leaves into flower beds, around trees or beneath shrubs can help insulate plant roots from our CNY winter temperatures.

The leaves can also help the soil retain moisture and suppress weeds while slowly breaking down and adding organic matter. By spring, nature has done a lot of the work for you.

But Don't Just Let Your Entire Lawn Disappear

There's one pretty important catch to the whole "leave the leaves" idea. You probably don't want to let a massive, thick layer of leaves sit on top of your grass all winter.

Too many leaves can block sunlight and airflow, smother the grass underneath and create conditions that can contribute to lawn problems. So no, this isn't permission to completely abandon the yard until April. Instead, it's about finding a better place for those leaves.

What Should You Do With All Those Leaves?

If you only have a light covering, you can leave some of them alone. Pun intended.

Another option is to move whole leaves from the lawn into garden beds, underneath trees or to a designated corner of the yard where they can naturally break down. You can also compost them and eventually turn all that fall cleanup into nutrient-rich material for your garden.

Mulching leaves with your lawn mower is another popular option. Chopping a moderate amount of leaves into small pieces allows them to settle into the grass and decompose rather than forming a thick mat over the lawn.

Read More: Fall Green Waste Pickup Season Has Arrived For The City Of Utica 

There is a tradeoff, though. Whole leaves provide better winter habitat for insects, and mowing can destroy insects, eggs, caterpillars and cocoons hiding among them. If supporting wildlife is your main goal, moving whole leaves into garden beds or a designated leaf pile is the better choice.

Throwing Leaves Away Creates Another Problem

Bagging leaves and sending them to a landfill doesn't just remove nutrients and wildlife habitat from your property.

When organic materials decompose in the low-oxygen environment of a landfill, they can produce methane, a powerful greenhouse gas.

If your community collects leaves for composting, that's a better destination. But if you have the space, keeping leaves on your own property as mulch, compost or habitat means you're getting the benefits instead.

And You Probably Shouldn't Burn Them Either

Burning a pile of leaves may seem like an easy way to make them disappear, but it creates smoke and air pollution and can become a fire hazard.

Read More: Thanksgiving Food Drive Underway at Rome Rescue Mission 

Before burning any yard waste, homeowners should also check local regulations because rules can vary by municipality. Composting, mulching or simply relocating the leaves around your property can accomplish the same cleanup without sending them up in smoke.

Maybe Your Yard Doesn't Need to Be Perfect

This may be the hardest part for some of us. We've been conditioned to think a good fall yard is one where every leaf has been removed, every plant has been cut back and everything looks perfectly clean.

Nature doesn't really work that way. Leaves fall. Plants die back. Seed heads remain standing. Bugs find places to spend the winter.

You don't have to let your entire property turn wild. Keep sidewalks, driveways, storm drains and areas where the kids or pets play clear. Move excess leaves off the grass if they're piling up.

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But that corner behind the shed? The flower beds? Under the trees? Maybe they don't need to be spotless.

So the next time you look out the window at a yard covered in leaves and feel guilty that you haven't started raking yet, remember that doing a little less might actually be doing your yard and its smallest residents a favor.

And if it saves you from spending an entire Central New York Saturday filling leaf bags, even better.