Come Fall each year, the leaves on the trees turn a beautiful orange/brown/yellow color before falling to the ground that makes the world look like such a pretty place. In combination with the wonderful drop in temperature that doesn’t have you sweating all over the place, Fall may be one of the world's most enjoyed seasons.
Although, colorful leaves aren’t the only thing that Fall brings; it also brings a lot of yard work for many households all over the world. But is all that yard work actually necessary?
The National Wildlife Federation actually suggests that instead of raking your leaves, you should just leave them in your front yard. Those leaves are an essential component of the environment that are used by smaller critters as habitats, whether those are lizards, worms, birds, or toads.
“Many wildlife species live in or rely on the leaf layer to find food and other habitat, including salamanders, chipmunks, box turtles, toads, shrews, earthworms, many insect species,” the National Wildlife Federation explains on its Web site.
Also because dead leaves decompose into the dirt and create a natural mulch and fertilizer for your soil, you’re better off just leaving them there so they can rot and do their good deed for the environment.
Although people rake their yards to make them look cleaner and nicer, consider this: the natural fertilizer that those leaves will become will give your lawn the important enriched soil that it requires, and perhaps come Spring, you’ll be the one with the nicest lawn instead of the neighbor that spent all their time raking away all of the minerals their lawn needed.
Moreover, without using all those plastic garbage bags to sweep the leaves into, you’ll help the environment even further.
Most leaves, an estimated 33 million tons according to the National Wildlife Federation, that get raked up end up in landfills, where there isn't enough oxygen to help the leaves decompose properly. This prevents nature from taking its natural course.
On the other hand, if you still have to rake, rather than just throwing those leaves in the garbage can, you might consider taking them somewhere where they can actually be turned into natural compost that can be used by people who need it.
Source: National Wildlife Federation
