Is Mulching Leaves Into the Lawn in the Fall Good?
While this year, the leaves started to turn brown and fall in early July here on our beautiful Southern Indiana property, the majority of trees waited until fall to wow us with their spectacular colors before starting to fall.
If you have a yard with grass, then leaves are something to be mindful of. Leaving your leaves in your grass will kill the grass, resulting in bare spots of grass next year. So something must be done…. but what is best to do about the leaves in your yard?
Naturally, some choose to bag up their leaves. Others make piles and jump in the leaves first.
That’s your call.
But there is another option, which is practiced by your friendly handyman/ mower/ landscaper here at Non-Toxic Home: mulching the leaves into the yard!
All year, the tree roots underneath your grass absorb nutrients from the soil. Some of those nutrients are deposited into the wood, but others make their way all the way to the leaves, where they remain after the leaves fall.
In other words, your trees just made you free fertilizer.
Mulching those leaves into the soil fertilizes your yard for free!
You’re welcome.
Here’s What I Do
First, I blow out your mulch beds and around your home to get all of the leaves into the grass.
Here’s what sets me apart from others: As a handyman (with an understanding of how buildings work, and Leanna- a powerhouse of a building science/ building biology/ etc. researcher behind the scenes), while I’m using my blower, I’m examining your property for any possible concerns that could be detrimental to the investment you made in your home. I’m looking for potential issues that could creep up in the next 6 months to a year as well.
It’s like having a home inspector look over your home on the outside at no additional cost.
Since your home is likely your biggest investment, I find it important at this time to keep a vigilant eye on what I see that could be a danger to your home, from the curb to the house itself.
Then, I mow the grass/yard and leaves on the grass with specialty mulching blades 2-3 times.
As you can see, my blades do a great job, and your grass still looks nice, even with the leaves properly mulched in.
Can You Mulch All of the Leaves In?
At some point, typically leaves will need to be bagged as there are simply too many to mulch into the yard. This varies by location. Some yards require a leaf cleanup more than once, in addition to mulching/mowing regularly. Until I’ve worked on a yard for a season, I typically won’t know the pattern of the leaves in the neighborhood for certain.
Some yards are a leaf magnet for the neighborhood.
What Areas Do You Serve?
For landscaping and mowing, you’ll regularly see me in Bloomington, Nashville, Carmel, Greenwood, Trafalgar, and Indianapolis, Indiana- and areas in between. Handyman services are available at a significant distance, and I am open to travel. Just ask!
Remote consultations (including examining real estate listings) are available for anywhere in the world, provided it’s legal of course.
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