Where I live, we get A LOT of leaves. I have trees in the front, back, and one side of my house. Our municipality does about three leaf pick-ups a season and we don’t have to bag them or anything. We just blow them to the curb and they come with the giant truck that vacuums them up. When my older kids were younger, I took them scootering around the neighborhood so they could scooter into all the giant leaf piles. It was so much fun. It’s actually a really good memory that I have with them.
Besides having fun with them, leaves serve a lot of purpose. When leaves fall and break down, they release nutrients, such as carbon, into the soil.1 They also help soil retain moisture. Where I live in New Jersey, we had a drought warning issued on 11/13/24. It didn’t rain here for over 30 days, and then when it did rain, it wasn’t anything special; and didn’t rain again for a couple weeks. I was annoyed that I was watering plants in October/November. Like, it’s Fall, I shouldn’t have to water anything. I was thankful that I had mulched my raised garden beds with leaves though, since it helped retain the little bit of moisture I was giving them. My husband did the leaves a couple days before the rain, and I said to him that our soil didn’t seem too bad, because the blanket of leaves that covered our land pretty much the entire drought helped retain the moisture. So, yay for procrastination on his end!
This brings me to my first point, mulching. As I said earlier, mulching with leaves helps to add nutrients to the soil and keep it moist. It also helps reduce the need for fertilizer, which saves money and is a naturally organic option. This organic matter helps improve the health of your yard and garden. Another benefit of leaf mulch is temperature control. In the Summer, it helps keep your beds cooler by blocking the sun’s rays.2 In the cooler months, it acts as an insulating layer to keep in heat.2 Finally, leaf mulch helps reduce weed growth.2 You can turn your leaves into mulch by running them over with a lawn mower or leaf shredder. This is the first year my husband actually mulched the leaves. I put whole leaves on my beds and compost pile before, which still works but takes longer to break down. This year I spread the leaf mulch over all six of my raised garden beds, put them in my raspberry bush pots, and around the base of my blackberry and blueberry bushes.
Another way I’m using my leaves is as bedding in my chicken coop/run. This is my first year having chickens, and I’m attempting to use the deep litter method in my coop so I don’t have to clean it as often. I already have a couple layers of pine shavings in their coop, so I’m not just using leaves. However, instead of buying another bag of pine shavings to add (I have three bags worth in there right now), I added a layer of the leaf mulch that my husband prepared. When you use leaves as bedding, you have to make sure they are completely dry, which was easy for us since we were in a mild drought when my husband mulched the leaves (over 30 days without rain). I also put a layer of leaf mulch in the chicken run, that way we actually have something to clean out, rather than having them just poop on the same area of dirt for an extended period of time. Aside from being a free source of bedding, the leaves also give the chickens something to scratch around and I’m sure there are bugs mixed in there for them to find. It’s also a more sustainable option than purchasing bedding.
While using leaves in your chicken run helps to create natural compost, not everybody has chickens. You can still have a compost pile and utilize leaves. I’ve had a compost pile for a few years and I always add leaves to it. As mentioned earlier, the leaves add natural organic matter and nutrients to the compost pile. When creating a compost pile, you need brown matter and green matter. Leaves make up the brown matter. You can also add twigs, fruit and vegetable scraps, egg shells, and other natural materials to your compost pile. Add your homemade compost to your garden and/or flower beds in the Spring to give your plants nutrients. This is a free, sustainable and natural way to build your soil health. The EPA has a page that offers information and guidelines on composting at home- Composting at Home.
Leaves also make a good filler for raised garden beds and containers. I don’t like spending money on dirt. It just seems so backwards to me. But, when you’re first starting out, especially with raised garden beds, you have to buy it. I like putting a layer of leaves and twigs on the bottom of beds and containers because then you don’t need as much soil. This, again, saves you money and adds nutrients to the soil over time as the leaves and twigs break down. It helps with drainage as well.
I hope you found this post helpful. I want more people to try this sustainable, cost effective approach to mulching, composting, gardening, or lining their chicken coop. But don’t forget to have some fun. Grab your kids and jump in those leaves!
References
- https://extension.unl.edu/statewide/dodge/the-benefits-of-fallen-leaves/
- https://www.lsuagcenter.com/articles/page1694179813507#:~:text=During%20hot%20weather%2C%20mulch%20helps,and%20thereby%20reduces%20heat%20absorption.
- https://monroe.cce.cornell.edu/resources/benefits-of-leaf-mulching
- https://lowtechinstitute.org/2019/07/08/deep-litter-method-for-chicken-coops-save-and-repurpose-from-contributor-eric-mcglynn/
- https://www.epa.gov/recycle/composting-home
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