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While this could be a discussion for the Gardening or Nature boards here, it's really a matter of Green Living.
When we rake up leaves from our lawns in the fall, we are disrupting the natural nutrient cycle, and more importantly, disrupting the micro-environment/habitat the leaves provide. The bugs and other invetebrates that serve as food for birds, small mammals, reptiles & even amphibians are lost. Habitat disruption....Fungi & worms make fast work of the leaves over the ensuing months and few visible leaves are left by spring.
Habitat destruction is the biggest problem facing MotherNature, and it's not just the miners, oil men, and real estate developers who are doing it. If you maintain a pristine suburban lawn, you are guilty too.
I rake some leaves but not others. Nothing about our property is suburban or pristine. Generally we mulch or rake the ones that fall on the lawn near the house and put them in the shrub beds.
I gather my leaves and deposit them on the garden area to improve fertility for next years vegetables and flowers.
Done with our gas push mower fitted with a bag, good exercise.
This time of year we don't have the grass cut again until spring so the leaves aren't mowed into the grass as is done early fall.
I never saw the point of raking leaves, just leave them be. The forests never get raked when leaves fall on the ground, everything looks like it's growing just fine to me. Leaf raking is a waste of money, resources and time. But raking is highly preferable to those awful blowers that pollute the air with noise, dust and debris. If someone wants to rake their leaves that's fine, but it doesn't make anything green or not green. The leaves just sit there until they decay, and then the essential nutrients and minerals of the leaves go back to the earth. Probably good for earthworms, bugs etc.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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I never rake leaves from the lawn. I have a mulching riding mower, and they get pulverized to become fertilizer. Right now I'm waiting for a dry day because the lawn ids getting high and has leaves on it, but the mulching process doesn't work well with wet grass & leaves. If the leaves are on the driveway I use the leaf blower to get them onto the lawn before mowing. We are also getting mushrooms on the lawn now.
If I didn't remove leaves my back yard would be a sludge bath. We get 2000 pounds of leaves in our little postage stamp yard every year. It cost a lot to remove the, but if I didn't the yard would be a big sludge bath of dead leaves.
??? I see Harold's mesaage (#7)when I'm not logged in, but it disappears when I log in???
Anyways-- He states that he gets 2000 lb of leaves on his postage stamp sized yard, and that they would be a soggy mess if he didn't have them removed.
His weight measurement is in the right ball park-- a mature oak has about 500 lb of leaves (I looked that up. You can find anything on the internet.) Let's play naive and assume the number is correct. Four or five mature trees on or adjacent to his yard is all it would take.
But as Stephen cleverly notes above-- nobody rakes the leaves in the forest, and they're all gone by spring.
Wet leaves are slippery, so it may makes sense to keep footpaths cleared. I need to walk into my 2 ac hickory grove to get to the chicken coop several times every day. About 100 mature trees (100 ft tall) spaced every 10-15 ft. Path is knee deep in leaves this time of year. They're all gone by April when the snow has melted.
But let's face it. If you're the only ecologically inclined house in a 10 sq mile neighborhood who doesn't rake leaves, your well intentioned efforts don't amount to much...Fragmentation of habitat isn't much better than complete annihilation of habitat.... We need to convince most everybody to change their ways to make a real difference.
I never rake leaves from the lawn. I have a mulching riding mower, and they get pulverized to become fertilizer. Right now I'm waiting for a dry day because the lawn ids getting high and has leaves on it, but the mulching process doesn't work well with wet grass & leaves. If the leaves are on the driveway I use the leaf blower to get them onto the lawn before mowing. We are also getting mushrooms on the lawn now.
I do the same. The lawn looks pretty good afterwards. Just wish the leaves would fall off at the same time. Waiting on one more tree.
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