All around town, residents are raking up the last of autumn’s colorful leaves. What many may not realize is that those old dead leaves have plenty of life left in them. Grass clippings, leaves, and other landscape debris are fully compostable and a valuable asset in boosting the health of your soil for next year’s growing season. Bagging these materials and putting them out as garbage is a waste of limited landfill space and robs our clay soil of the natural nutrients provided by this rich organic process.
Over the course of a year, about 20 percent of the solid waste headed for the landfill in Texas comes from grass clippings, tree leaves and other landscape wastes. Don’t bag those leaves this year! Try these suggestions for a healthy landscape and a cleaner Coppell:
Mowing - A light covering of leaves can be mowed (using a mulch mower), without the catch-bag, leaving shredded leaves in place on the lawn. This is the most efficient and easiest way to tidy your yard after the last of the leaves has fallen.
Mulching - Leaves can be used as mulch in vegetable gardens, flowerbeds, and around shrubs and trees. Mow the leaves using the catch-bag on the mower. This provides a fast and easy way to shred and collect the leaves. Apply a 3-6 inch layer of shredded leaves around the base of trees and shrubs. In annual or perennial flowerbeds, apply 2-3 inches of shredded leaves. For vegetable gardens, a thick layer of leaves between the rows functions as mulch and as an all-weather walkway.
Composting - Leaves can be used as a carbon source if you have a compost pile. When mixed with an equal volume of organic materials with high nitrogen, like fresh rye grass, the amount of leaves will be reduced by 75 percent within 4-6 weeks. Finished compost can be used to enrich the soil. It adds nutrients, loosens tight, heavy soils, and helps sandy soils retain moisture. Compost is also good for addition to potting soils for container grown plants. Want to know more about composting leaves? Both Coppell Community Gardens have excellent demonstrations of active compost piles: Helping Hands Garden at 255 Parkway and the Ground Delivery Garden at 450 S. Denton Tap Road.
Recycling – If you don’t want to mow, mulch, or compost your leaves, you can always recycle them by setting them out on your regular recycling collection day. All leaves and grass must be in kraft yard bags or in an OPEN container.
For more information on leaf management, visit the city website here.
Story and photo courtesy of Jen Ferguson, Keep Coppell Beautiful