Whether or not to leave leaves in your garden is a topic that's gotten a lot of buzz in the last year or so. It's said to be good for wildlife, insect life, and the plants themselves. Maybe the excitement around the idea is driven by it seeming easier and chore eliminating? Still, there are some very easy and practical ways to leave some of the leaves (within reason) in your yard.
LAWN
The lawn is NOT the place to leave leaves where they fall. In their fallen-state, they'll just form a matted cover of the grass that will kill it. But... after spending a little time running through your mower, they turn into food for your lawn! We often find that we have so many leaves we can't mulch them all... but definitely use a few fall mows to mulch up grass clippings and leaves and give your lawn a natural snack.
FLOWER BEDS
This time of year, it might be tempting to let the leaves pile up on your flower beds and just let them go all winter. Now, some leaves ARE good for your beds and will provide a warm winter blanket for your tender perennials. My rule of thumb is to keep the leaves under 3 inches thick and make sure they aren't too matted down which prevents water and air from getting through. These can stay until late February/early March when they'll need to be raked out to prepare for spring blooms.
COMPOST
Fallen leaves are a free and natural source of compost fuel. It's a resource not to be wasted. Chopping or shredding them up will make them compost faster as there is more surface edges to get to work, but you can also add them as-is to your compost pile. They'll just take a bit longer to break down. Remember the balance of greens (plant and grass clippings, coffee grounds, etc.) and browns (leaves, paper, straw) is important. Too much of either one and you won't get the chemical balance right that will promote composting.
Here are my jobs to do in the garden this week:
Remove and compost spent annuals
Prune back perennials w disease problems (like powdery mildew) such as peony, bee balm, garden phlox. cut back to 2 - 4 inches. Don't compost these!
Cut back suckers on shrubs - shoots that come up around the base of the plant.
What not to prune - Ornamental grass, climbing roses, perennials with seed heads that feed the winter birds.
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