A Few Reasons to Skip the Traditional Fall Cleanup

Hello friends! Can you believe October is just one day away, fall already upon us? 

As a child one of my most dreaded fall chores was raking leaves in our big backyard, especially the leaves that got stuck under the row of shrubs all along the property line, because those required lots of jabbing and grabbing and getting down on our hands and knees to get them out. My brother and I would rake, rake, rake, then drag the leaves with a giant plastic sheet to the “way back” where we would fling them down the bank, and forget about them. And just when we thought we were done, that the yard passed my Dad’s inspection, the wind would blow and all of the leaves from ALL of our neighbor’s maple trees would blow over across their backyard, into ours, getting stuck from traveling farther by the row of bushes on the other side of our yard. My brother and I could not believe the neighbors got away with NEVER raking!

These days you’ll find article after article telling you how to get your yard ready for winter, and while some of these suggestions are good, some are also very outdated, especially if you’re a nature-lover like me. I can save you some work this fall, allowing you to do something fun while all of your neighbors are raking their yards. 

Many, many animals overwinter in leaf litter. Do you like fireflies? Butterflies? Moths? Ladybugs? The list is long. Ever wonder how all of those insects make it through winter? Many spend the cold winter months in the leaves on the forest floor, or in the soil below the leaves. When people rake and mulch their leaves, these insects are killed too. 

According to Xerces, 

One of the most valuable things you can do to support pollinators and other invertebrates is to provide them with the winter cover they need.

In addition to lots of animals requiring leaf litter for a stage in their lifecycle think about this: You rake up your entire yard of fallen leaves, putting those leaves in bags to be carted elsewhere. Then, in the spring, you need to fertilize your yard, and so buy fertilizer to put on your yard. Well guess what? Those leaves that you raked up and took away are Mother Nature’s natural fertilizer! Free fertilizer if you are willing to allow Mother Nature to do her thing. All of those nutrients will be returned to your yards if you let them stay where they are. 

Sure, it’s true not all neighborhoods will be accepting of this idea, but in most every yard you can probably find a small spot that you can keep wild. Deposit some of the leaves from your yard there so that some of the insects overwintering there can survive until spring. Don’t chop up the leaves into tiny pieces–leave them full so all of those creatures won’t be chopped up right along with your leaves.

Another thing that most gardening sites will tell you is to cut back everything in preparation for winter. Well guess what? Birds eat the seeds in those seed heads. Native bees take shelter in those hollow bee balm or other flower stems. In addition there are millions of beneficial critters and fungi living in the soil below those plants. By keeping the plants there rather than cutting them back and throwing them out, the plants will continue to benefit your soil and garden.  

We need to adopt a new paradigm, admitting that in 2022 we’re too smart to throw away free and valuable fertilizer just because society says we should and because that’s what we’ve been doing our whole lives. Not only is throwing away leaf litter a waste, it’s a death sentence to just about every living thing living in that leaf litter. 

Xerces has lots of signs that you can print out and put in your front yard to show your neighbors that you’re not being lazy, you’re being smart, and a friend to wildlife.