this post was submitted on 24 Nov 2023
102 points (100.0% liked)

Nature and Gardening

6657 readers
1 users here now

All things green, outdoors, and nature-y. Whether it's animals in their natural habitat, hiking trails and mountains, or planting a little garden for yourself (and everything in between), you can talk about it here.

See also our Environment community, which is focused on weather, climate, climate change, and stuff like that.

(It's not mandatory, but we also encourage providing a description of your image(s) for accessibility purposes! See here for a more detailed explanation and advice on how best to do this.)

This community's icon was made by Aaron Schneider, under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
alyaza@beehaw.org
NataliePortland@beehaw.org
LallyLuckFarm@beehaw.org
remington@beehaw.org
102
Trust in nature – and stop raking up your garden leaves (www.theguardian.com)
submitted 1 year ago by Jho@beehaw.org to c/greenspace@beehaw.org
44 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Some choice quotes from the article:

[S]pent leaves that flutter to the ground aren’t a waste product. They are rich in carbon and play an essential role for the tree and the ecology it supports.

The leaves act as a physical barrier for soil, keeping it and its many microbes insulated, and also for the tree roots, as the wet mats of autumn leaves shelter the fragile top layer from the drying winds.

Many, many things live in these dead leaf layers: caterpillars of moths and butterflies, their chrysalises, beetles, centipedes, springtails, woodlice and spiders … and doesn’t the blackbird know it, rustling through the leaves?

No one loves wet autumn leaves more than earthworms, though. Sensing one of their favourite things, they start to work on incorporating them into the soil. Earthworms line their homes with autumn leaves, using them for bedding and then, because they are good housekeepers, they eat them as they break down.

Leave the leaves be: they are not a mess, a waste or a hindrance – they are life and vital with it.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] furrowsofar@beehaw.org 7 points 1 year ago (2 children)

It will be interesting. I cannot envision how leaving several inches of leaves on the lawn is a good idea. Leaving a lot of property just natural though. That may make sense.

[–] Chetzemoka@startrek.website 13 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I think "several inches" is a bit overwrought. It's like one layer of leaves that will be mulched up the instant I mow next spring. And what is a "good idea"? What's going to happen? Some grass might die. Oh noes, the world will end!

We need to rethink how we live in all respects. And not depleting lawns of nutrients that we have to replace with artificial fertilizer is part of that

[–] The_Sasswagon@beehaw.org 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

We recently got a chip drop and cardboard/mulched the entire yard in prep for a more food and natives oriented lawn (and to kill the grass). The neighbors and family are incredulous, but the enormous earthworms we keep finding seem to enjoy it. When the leaves started falling we started mixing them with the mulch, even asked some neighbors for their bagged leaves.

I think they'll understand better when it starts taking shape. And anyway, it's not their lawn, who cares!

[–] Chetzemoka@startrek.website 2 points 1 year ago

That was me last fall with my "trash and leaves pile" that is now a nice new garden with flowers and decorative grass

[–] Azzu@lemm.ee 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

But you'll be "the weird neighbor" if you don't have perfectly green, trimmed and clean lawn!

[–] Chetzemoka@startrek.website 2 points 1 year ago

I am definitely the bad kid on the block lol

[–] LallyLuckFarm@beehaw.org 2 points 1 year ago

Depending on how wind interacts with the location, many leaves are likely to end up congregating at boundaries like fences or walls or around taller garden elements like herbaceous perennials, shrubs, and trees. Smaller parcels with large canopy trees may run into this problem, but the aforementioned pattern plays out in our ⅒ acre poultry yard with several large deciduous trees overhead.