Ah, it’s autumn and that means cooler weather, fall colors, and cozy evenings. Landscaping companies know that autumn also brings with it the fall of the leaves as the trees prepare for the coming winter. This is the time when many of our customers call our lawn maintenance services team for our leaf cleanup service.
Why it’s important to clean up the fallen leaves
As your grass starts preparing for winter, fallen leaves can be a hindrance to essential sunlight and air that’s needed. A layer of leaves can also block access to nutrients and hamper the healthy growth of your grass.
It can also reduce the evaporation rate and trap water between the leaves and the soil which can lead to other problems such as mold, fungus, brown patch, and other diseases in the leaf blades.
To compound things, grass that’s constantly damp also is an open invitation to mosquitoes which can really put a damper on your evenings in your garden.
Come spring, you could be dealing with having to nurse your garden back to health rather than it coming back to life naturally.
What our lawn maintenance services team does with the leaves
It’s important to plan your lawn care services even in the fall. Beyond having pre-and post-emergent and potassium applied to your lawn, it’s good to have your lawn maintenance services team handle your fallen leaves.
It may be tempting and fun to make a leaf pile for the kids to dive into, but once that’s done, you still have some cleanup to deal with.
Another option is to rake all your leaves, bag them, and wait for trash collection day.
Instead, our lawn maintenance services team recommends mulching or composting the leaves as an eco-friendly option.
Mulching requires a lawn mower with the added functionality of mulching down the leaves. The leaves then re-cycle their nutrients back into the soil and feed the grass and other plants. Leaf mulch like others helps regulate the temperature of the soil during winter and also decrease the chances of weeds. It’s important though that the leaves are disease free to avoid spreading disease to other plants in your garden.
To use the leaves as compost, our lawn care services team bags the leaves during mowing which makes it easy to add to your compost pit or pile and convert them into nutrient rich soil for your plants and trees. Not only are you ridding your lawn of strewn leaves, you’re putting them to good use for the rest of your plants.
