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| I have never gathered the leaves on my front lawn. I always run my mulching mower over them and leave them and the grass clippings right there.
Now that I have started composting, should I be gathering the leaves for the compost? Or leave them on the lawn? (Right now I am in the process of smothering my lawn with cardboard and mulch, but it is a slow process since I am doing it alone. So I will still have some green grass for a while.) For my two piles, I have been using the leaves in my backyard, and other peoples' leaves, combined with coffee grounds and food scraps. |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| Mulch yours into your lawn and then beg, borrow or steal OPBL (preferably shredded) for your compost. Leaves, UCGs and food scraps = perfect composting feedstocks. Lloyd |
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| Any leaves, grass clippings, etc., that fall on the lawn are meant to be there. That's where they were dropped - in my opinion, for a reason. I certainly would leave them there unless they are just so thick that they kill out the grass. The few leaves in my yard really aren't a grass-killing problem, because I only have a wispy maple and redbud in the front yard, and huge cedar trees in the back yard. So I really NEED to collect leaves and other compostables from my neighbors. I picked up a lot this past weekend. |
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| I agree with Lloyd that you should leave the leaves on the lawn. I have a slightly different situation, but the thinking is similar. Whatever the trees drop, either leaves or pine needles, gets left in the garden beds or raked off the lawn into the nearest garden bed. If I cut down perennials I leave the cuttings in place. My thought is why should I rake out and carry this organic material over to the compost pile, and then carry the finished compost back later? I also live in an area where winter snow cover is unreliable but fierce winter winds can be destructive, so all of this material is good mulch. That means I don't have as many leaves for the compost pile, so I do a lot of paper shredding for the browns. I don't have access to bagged leaves here - there's no curbside trash pickup and I think most people just dump the leaves over the coastal bank or into the woods. Claire |
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| I compost everything. But "centipede grass" does not need mulch, it kills off 1/3 of it's roots as a mulch. I have been advised to compost, then spread any finish compost on the lawn. I am not a big lawn person, it is there to keep the yard from eroding. I know all the tricks, like putting liquid Iron on the grass so it will be the darkest green in the community. To water once a week(twice a week in very dry season)for 15 minutes to force the roots to go deep in search of water, between watering.. This will help the grass survive a drought & saves water. Healthy, tight grass will fight off disease & choke out weeds. I just do not have the time to baby my grass. |
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