Dealing with Leaves for a Healthy Lawn

As leaves start to fall from the trees during this time of year, many homeowners wonder how to combat leaf drop so it doesn’t damage their lawn. While normal leaf drop coverage on a lawn does not affect fertilizer applications which may have been put down, dealing with leaves before winter arrives is still important for a lawn’s health.
How Leaves Can Negatively Impact Lawns
After a large amount of leaves have fallen on a lawn, all it takes is a heavy rain or snow before the fluffy piles turn into heavy matted layers. If not removed, the grass underneath won’t get the oxygen it needs and the excess moisture can lead to disease. Even without excess moisture, the leaves can still harm the grass by denying it the sunlight it also needs to maintain its health.
What You Can Do to Help
Before leaves have covered a lawn completely, using a mulching mower on the lawn works well. If leaves are still in large pieces after passing over them once, go back over the lawn at a different angle from the first pass. The shredded leaves will be small enough to decompose easily into vital organic matter while allowing sunlight and air to reach the grass.
Leaves can also be battled by using a mower bag attachment to suck up the pieces as you mow. The collected leaves are a great addition to compost piles and can also be used as mulch in garden beds.
Mulching leaves will not only help protect and improve the health of your lawn, but is also an economical way of disposing leaves without harming the environment.
For other lawn care tips this season, please contact NaturaLawn of America – Cape May Court House at: (609) 465-1405 or CapeMayCourtHouse.NaturaLawn.com.