With the leaves already starting to fall, I am starting to dread spending every spare minute out in the yard raking and bagging leaves. Any suggestions? RP

Many homeowners have a love-hate relationship with their trees. We love the stately beauty and the shade our trees provide, but we dread this time of year when the leaves start to fall. We dread it because we embrace the traditional view that these leaves must be raked, bagged, and removed as soon as possible. What if you didn’t need to do any of those three things? That would change our attitude. And then, what if I told you that the leaves are more of a gift than a burden? That would change your attitude even more…right? So, here’s the deal.

One of the first things I tell people when talking about fall leaf removal is “nobody fertilizes the forest.” The forest is a self-contained ecosystem that is perfectly capable of meeting its own nutritional needs. A big part of the reason behind this is leaves.

First of all, leaves return nutrients back to the soil. This may seem counter-intuitive, but leaves are 1% nitrogen which is about the same as manure and many of us purchase manure from time to time to add to our garden. Granted, manure contains more than just nitrogen, but leaves are free and have just as much nitrogen.

Leaves also contain phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, sulfur, boron, iron, manganese, chloride, sodium, copper, and zinc. In addition, since leaves are made up of organic matter, as they decompose, they not only add nutrients back to your soil but also add organic matter. In Oklahoma, the organic matter content of our soil is pretty low. So, if you want to boost nutrient levels and organic content in your soil, rather than rake, bag, and remove your leaves, just use a mulching mower and mow them back into the soil.

When we first moved into our house, I was a leaf bagger and spent most every weekend out there bagging leaves. As I remember that first year I had 120 mulched bags. This took more hours than I would like to admit. In contrast, now I just add 2, maybe 3 end of season mowings. This takes a lot less time and a lot less effort since I don’t have to carry all those bagged leaves to their pile in the back yard and then out to the curb on trash day. I don’t know about you, but there are a million and one things I would rather do that transport bags of leaves back and forth. Plus, my back appreciates it as well.

Concerning the leaves that fall onto your flower beds, consider just leaving them alone until spring. Here’s why.

Fallen leaves provide a natural habitat in which a variety of insects over-winter. Insects that engage in this practice include butterflies, moths, snails, spiders, and dozens of arthropods. It’s easy to think all butterflies migrate because of our experience with the Monarch butterflies, but the reality is that many butterflies overwinter in leaf debris as eggs, caterpillars, chrysalises, or even adults. For example, luna moths and swallowtail butterflies disguise their chrysalises and cocoons so they blend in with the real leaves. Because of this, leaving the leaves helps provide an over-wintering site for a variety or our insect friends.

Bees also depend on fallen leaves during the winter. At the end of summer, the mated queen will burrow into the earth about 1 to 2 inches deep to hibernate for the winter. A nice layer of leaves provides a little extra protection for this hibernating queen.

Concerning those leaves that pile up on the deck, driveway, and along the curb, you can also use those in your garden and landscape. A few years ago, I invested in a leaf mulcher. They are a little pricy but pay for themselves over a season or two.

Now, each fall I rake up the leaves on the deck, driveway, and along the curb, run them through the leaf mulcher, and bag them up. I then store these bags in the back corner of the yard over the winter. In the spring when I am ready to put a good layer of mulch down on my garden, I retrieve those bags and use the mulched leaves as a wonderful garden mulch. Wonderful because it’s organic and works really well, but also wonderful because the entire cost of the mulch is just some labor on my part.

While we are talking about helping the pollinators, it’s also a good idea to resist cutting down your annual or perennial flowers in the fall because a variety of pollinator insects overwinter in the stems of those plants. Yes, your flower bed may look a little different than the neighbors, but you’ll be helping out our pollinator population and we can’t do without our pollinators.

Once you adopt some of these practices, you’ll not only be helping the environment but I predict fall will be much more enjoyable. And you won’t have to feel guilty watching your favorite college football team rather than working on your leaves…go Pokes! See you in the garden!

You can get answers to all your gardening questions by calling the Tulsa Master Gardeners Help Line at 918-746-3701, dropping by our Diagnostic Center at 4116 E. 15th Street, or by emailing us at mg@tulsamastergardeners.org. photo by Tom Ingram