Why its Important to Remove Leaves From Your Yard

While it may be tempting to let leaves fall in your yard and then pick them up at once to save time and labor, this can actually damage your yard. It isn’t just about how it looks, but also about the health of your grass.

A layer of dead leaves can invite pests and diseases including molding grass and dead patches and it, therefore, prevent nutrients from reaching and keeping your grass healthy. If left long enough, this can also prevent the newer grass from growing in properly or at all.

Just as there are seasonal flowers and shrubs, there are also seasonal grasses. There are particular grasses that do well in the cooler fall weather and actually become stronger, but a layer of dead leaves can weaken the grass and its roots. Even though the grass may not die in the spring, they may not have the strength to make it through the hotter temps of the summer if they don’t get their fall nutrients and conditioning properly.

The important factor to keep in mind in terms of leaf removal and clean up is the amount of care or maintenance that you may still have to do for the season, the level of nutrients your grass may need, and the amount of sunlight versus shade that your grass can handle.

In general terms, too much shade or sun can harm your grass, and if there is a layer of thick leaves, the sunlight can’t reach the grass. There’s a couple different ways to handle leaf removal, but generally speaking a few stray leaves aren’t going to harm anything.

One way to handle the leaf removal is to use a lawn mower with a bag that collects what’s being mowed. This takes up the dead grass and the leaves and bags them up for you for easy removal. While you don’t have to physically rake and it can save you time, you’re also removing potentially helpful nutrients.

On the other hand, if you mow like you would normally, making sure not to cut more than 1/3 of the length of the grass at a time, it also cuts up the leaves into smaller pieces so that it falls between the grass, and the nutrients gained from the decomposing process can potentially make your grass healthier in the long run. Ultimately what you do in the long run is up to you and how you want it to look, but this can be an option to keep in mind if you don’t have a mower that collects leaves.

There’s also the traditional raking of the leaves into piles, which is always fun if you have kids. You can teach them about the chore of keeping yards healthy while having fun with them in the piles.

This article is brought to you by Franklin Rental, where you can rent all types of lawn and garden equipment. You can rent for as little as a few hours up to a month at a time. Learn more here.

Franklin Rental is located at 1516 Columbia Ave, Franklin TN 37064.