Fall Landscaping Tips: Collecting Leaves and Mulching

As we mentioned, for the next few weeks, we will be giving tips to keeping your lawn beautiful all fall and getting it prepared to survive the winter months. This week, we will be discussing collecting leaves and mulching young plants.

Collect Leaves

Raking is probably the most back-breaking approach to leaf removal. It works best in small yards or planting beds. If raking is your method of choice, check out new ergonomic rakes — lightweight and designed to limit back fatigue. Select a wide rake-head for lawn areas and small rakes for planting beds and reaching under shrubs. To haul leaves away, consider a bendable tarp, pop-up leaf hauling containers or handheld leaf claws, all designed to make leaf gathering a breeze.

The only time you don't want to rake leaves is if they're wet and matted. Try to time raking so leaves are dry. If it's winter and the ground is frozen, it's better to use a leaf blower and stay off the grass as much as possible. Walking on frozen grass crowns can damage them, which in turn can lead to brown spots after soil thaws in spring.

Mulch Young Plants

Mulching plants is both functional and decorative. Mulch typically is an organic material spread on the soil surface to protect roots from heat, cold, and drought, and to provide nutrients to plants as it decomposes. Once you have chosen the right plant for a given site, and followed the proper planting procedures, you should mulch the plant and create a stable environment for root growth. Give new flower beds a layer of mulch—chopped leaves, weed-free straw, or wood chips—after a light frost, but before the ground freezes. Add decomposed layers of organic mulch into the soil, then apply a fresh 2- to 4-inch layer (more will smother roots) to keep new plantings warm and to control water runoff and soil erosion.