This fall, consider leaving the leaves

This article is contributed by Sustainable Braintree, non-profit 501c3 whose aim is to advocate for smart living through sustainability and environmental awareness. All are invited to our Annual Meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 17, 7:30 PM at the Logan Auditorium, Thayer Public Library.

Braintree is fortunate to have many trees – and all but the evergreens drop their leaves every Fall. It has become accepted practice to rake the dead leaves into bags for the DPW to cart away.

It is time to rethink this practice.

One big reason is songbirds. It is only in recent years that new scientific research has discovered what songbirds feed their nestlings – and it turns out that about 90% of what the chicks eat is caterpillars. The problem is that dead leaves are the primary place for caterpillars to overwinter. So when we rake up and discard those leaves in Fall, we are effectively starving next spring’s songbird hatchlings. According to the Audubon Society, the US has lost some 3 billion birds in the last few decades. Our habit of removing the leaves is a major contributor to this disaster. If we want to still have birdsong in spring, we have to start leaving those leaves on the ground.

A second factor lies in another recent discovery: bare ground emits carbon into the atmosphere, and thus worsens climate change, while soil that is covered with mulch or growing plants draws down and retains carbon, helping solve the climate change problem. So during the winter when green plants are absent, letting leaves cover the ground is a significant contributor to solving global warming. Not to mention that allowing leaves to rot into the ground improves soil fertility and texture, which enables soil to retain more water and thus mitigates both flooding and drought.

Given the advantages of leaving dead leaves on the ground, the issue that remains is one of aesthetics. We expect our gardens to look neat and tended, and it is also true that a thick bed of leaves, if left on the lawn, will kill the grass. Happily, there are solutions to these concerns.

One solution is to repurpose the fallen leaves as mulch. Instead of removing them and then buying mulch to protect perennials, rake the leaves around those plants that need protection and save the money you would have spent on other mulch.

Another use for dead leaves is to decrease lawn space in favor of ornamental plantings. Start by raking dead leaves off those healthy lawn areas that you want to keep and onto neatly defined shady areas under the trees’ drip lines where grass doesn’t grow well anyway. Then underplant the trees with spring flowers like daffodils and tulips and also with native ferns, Solomon’s seal, wild geraniums, wood asters, violets, and other shade-loving native perennials. Unlike grass, these can grow through the leaf cover, creating maintenance-free garden areas while decreasing lawn work. Grow grass only in sunny areas where lawn is actually needed for playing on or access to garden beds; shrinking your lawn in favor of attractive hardy plantings both restores the ecosystem and saves the time and energy and expense of maintaining a large lawn.

There are thus very good reasons to cease the practice of removing Autumn leaves, and good things to do with them on the ground. In doing so, you help heal the planet. It’s a win all around.