As the leaves begin to turn, you can expect them to cover your yard and driveway. However, is it better to rake and bag them or leave them where they are?
READ MORE: When Should I Stop Mowing My Lawn for the Year in Indiana?
When my wife and I bought our first home in Kentucky, it was situated on a large field of grass with no trees. As a result, we were fortunate not to have to deal with an abundance of leaves on or around our property -- I don't even think I owned a rake at the time. However, when we moved back to Indiana in the spring of 2024, our new house was quite the opposite. We now have several trees, and over the past week, the leaves have started falling all over my yard, carport, and rain gutters.
Clogged gutters are never a good thing, so that was the first problem I tackled. After spending about an hour on a ladder cleaning out the leaves and muck, I moved on to the carport. Fortunately, a leaf blower made quick work of this task. However, I still had the rest of the yard to address. By this point, I was already tired of looking at leaves, and I didn't want to rake and bag them only to do it again the next day. So, I decided to look online to see if raking leaves was really necessary. As it turns out, the answer is not a clear yes or no.
According to an article from Consumer Reports, it's not only okay to leave fallen leaves on your lawn, but it's also good for the wildlife around your home. In fact, the National Wildlife Federation encourages homeowners to avoid raking leaves entirely and let them be. Leaves provide an ecosystem for a host of living things, including chipmunks, earthworms, caterpillars, and thousands of species of insects. Without a layer of leaves, there is little habitat for pollinators, resulting in fewer birds, which forage in the leaves for food.
Leaving fallen leaves on your yard may save you some work and benefit the ecosystem, but that doesn't mean it's a complete win-win. Consumer Reports notes that allowing leaves to cover your yard may not be ideal if your goal is a well-kept lawn. Additionally, a thick layer of leaves can starve your grass of sunlight, causing it to die. Unmanaged leaves can also stain walkways and decks. Furthermore, you may not want an abundance of leaves attracting insects, mice, and other animals to certain areas of your yard, such as near doors and walkways.
There are a couple of different ways to handle leaves around your home without harming the ecosystem or leaving your property looking unkempt. For one, you can redistribute the leaves to other areas of your yard. Simply rake them into small piles near a wooded area along the edge of your yard, where they can provide habitat for animals and insects without being a nuisance.
Mulching leaves is another great way to manage your fall leaf overload. By mulching the leaves into finer pieces with your lawnmower, you allow them to degrade faster and enrich your soil. This is likely what I will be doing moving forward. It not only keeps your yard looking neat but also preserves the benefits of fallen leaves. Plus, it doesn't require any labor with a rake or leaf blower. Now that's a win-win-win.