Castanet – Sigrie Kendrick – October 26, 2022
Leave the leaves.
I’m here to question why, as gardeners, we are so obsessed with the big fall clean-up, including raking or blowing all the fallen leaves into piles, shovelling them into plastic bags and sending them off to the landfill—or even to be composted centrally.
It’s a tradition we really should re-consider. In fact, it is counter-productive behaviour. Instead, I would like to educate everyone about the many benefits of leaving the leaves where they fall in the fall.
Let us mimic what occurs naturally, in contrast to our need to clean, control and manipulate our natural environment.
There’s a reason for everything in nature. For example, with the shorter days of light in the fall, the leaves of deciduous trees and shrubs fall to the ground and act as a mulch, which suppresses weeds, protects the roots of perennials from the winter cold and feeds the soil as they decay.