As much as autumn leaves look beautiful with their bright colors when they are on the trees, once they start to fall and land in your garden, they soon begin to lose their appeal. Therefore, we will provide you with some tips on how to deal with autumn leaves that have now fallen into your garden.
Get your Tools Ready
To begin with, you need to make sure that you’ve got the right tools to hand. First of all, you will need to have a leaf rake, which is lightweight and has a long handle. A long handle would mean you don’t have to keep bending over and cause yourself a back injury. An adjustable leaf rate is even better as these allow you to grab any leaves that have fallen in awkward places and you don’t have to be constantly switching tools.
Rake at the Correct Time
It is best to rake any leaves when they are wet as they will be heavier and therefore they will be easier to rake. If, however, you suffer from allergies, it is probably worth waiting until the leaves are dry as wet leaves are the perfect breeding ground for mold and mildew.
Have a Strategy in Place
Before you begin to rake, you need to make sure you have a strategy in mind. First of all, consider what you’ll do with your autumn leaves and where you will rake them. Once you have figured out where you will be raking the leaves to, begin at the furthest point. That said; if it is windy on the day that you decide to do your raking, remember to rake downwind.
Pine Needles
It is worth separating any pine needles from your autumn leaves. Pine needles are acidic and some plants don’t like the soil to be acidic. So for this reason, it is worth creating separate mulch from pine needles. The best thing to do is once you spot any pine needles that are on the ground in your garden, rake these up. Consider placing these pine needles in a rubbish bag and store them in a dry place. Should you need some acidic mulch, these would then be perfect.
Sticks
If there are any twigs or sticks in your garden, it may be worth collecting these up before you tackle the autumn leaves. Once you have collected them, create a pile as these sticks could be used as a shelter for wildlife birds or they could be used as fire kindling.
Waste Companies
Although autumn leaves may seem like rubbish, they’re not. You may have a garden waste collection service in your area and this is something that you could consider using. It may take you the same amount of time and effort to rake your leaves up, as it will for a garden waste company to collect them. Leaves that are thrown into the rubbish usually end up in a landfill site. These just add to the issues related to landfill gas. Garden waste collection programs tend to send leaves to composting facilities. Here they are recycled to create a soil supplement, which is rich in nutrients.
Compost
If you don’t have a community composting service or you prefer not to pay for compost each year, then you could look at creating your own compost using these autumn leaves. Although it does mean you will need to find the time to do this, it is quick and easy to build a compost bin and it’s fairly easy to learn how to create your own compost. If you do decide to make your own compost at least you will know that the following spring you will have plenty of compost readily available to feed your new flowers.
Avoid Using a Leaf Blower
It may be tempting to use the leaf blower but all you may end up doing is blowing your leaves into someone else’s property. If your leaves end up in the street you could end up causing problems with the drainage system.
A garden vacuum is a good option as these machines have a bag attached that collect the leaves.
Vegetable/Flowerbed Mulch
If creating your own compost doesn’t appeal, then you could look at mulching your vegetable and flowerbeds instead. The litter from the leaves doesn’t only just provide free mulch to your beds; it doesn’t need to be composted before it can to be used to improve the health of the soil, unlike compost from animal manure.
All you will need to do is use a rake to place the autumn leaves on your planting beds. Just make sure that you leave some space around the stems of any plants that are growing to avoid rot. It is worth piling the leaves up so that they are four inches deep, as this will make a lovely winter blanket for your plants.
If you want to stop these autumn leaves from being blown around, you could use your lawnmower to break them up before you place them into your vegetable or flowerbeds.
Lawn Mulch
Mulch is good for your garden and you could just leave any leaves that fall onto your lawn and just mow over them. Your lawnmower will crunch these leaves up and any lawn or leaf clippings will soon break down and nicely feed your lawn for the following year.
Your Roof
As much as the autumn leaves in your garden need to be dealt with, you also need to remember to deal with any leaves that have fallen on your roof. If you leave leaves on your roof, they can cause an issue as they may trap water. All you would need is an extension pole or a broom to remove them from your roof. If you have a hosepipe you could attach a PVC pipe to it and use it to clean out your guttering with water. If you find that the leaves on your roof are becoming a bit of problem, then you may need to consider buying some gutter guards to help keep your guttering clear.