To open the conversation of leaves, I thought fitting (and at risk of the potential loss of some mowing clients) to share an ironic conversation between God and St. Francis regarding lawn care.
GOD: Frank, you know all about gardens and nature. What in the world is going on down there on the planet? What happened to the dandelions, clover, milkweeds and stuff I started eons ago? I had a perfect no-maintenance garden plan. Those plants grow in any type of soil, withstand drought and multiply without abandon. The nectar from the long-lasting blossoms attracts butterflies, honey bees and flocks of songbirds. I expected to see a vast garden of colors by now. All I see are green rectangles. ST. FRANCIS: It's the tribes that settled there, Lord. The Suburbanites! They started calling your flowers 'weeds' and went to great lengths to kill them and replace them with grass. GOD: Grass? But, it's so boring. It's not colorful. It doesn't attract butterflies, birds and bees; only grubs and sod worms. It's sensitive to temperatures. Do these Suburbanites really want all that grass growing there? ST. FRANCIS: Apparently so, Lord. They go to great pains to grow it and keep it green. They begin each spring by fertilizing grass and poisoning any other plant that creeps up in the lawn. GOD: The spring rains and warm weather probably make grass grow really fast. That must make the Suburbanites happy. ST. FRANCIS: Apparently not, Lord. As soon as it grows a little, they cut it, sometimes twice a week. GOD: They cut it? Do they then bale it like hay? ST. FRANCIS: Not exactly, Lord. Most of them rake it up and put it into plastic bags. GOD: They bag it? Why? Is it a cash crop? Do they sell it? ST. FRANCIS: No, Sir, just the opposite. They pay to throw it away. GOD: Now, let me get this straight. They fertilize grass so it will grow. And when it does grow, they cut it off and pay to throw it away? ST. FRANCIS: Yes, Sir. GOD: These Suburbanites must be relieved in the summer when we cut back on the rain and turn up the heat. That surely slows the growth and saves them a lot of work. ST. FRANCIS: You aren't going to believe this, Lord. When the grass stops growing so fast, they drag out hoses and pay more money to water it, so they can continue to mow it and pay to get rid of it. GOD: What nonsense. At least they kept some of the trees. That was a sheer stroke of genius, if I do say so myself. The trees grow leaves in the spring to provide beauty and shade in the summer. In the autumn, they fall to the ground and form a natural blanket to keep moisture in the soil and protect the trees and bushes. It's a natural cycle of life. ST. FRANCIS: You better sit down, Lord. The Suburbanites have drawn a new circle. As soon as the leaves fall, they rake them into great piles and pay to have them hauled away. GOD: No!? What do they do to protect the shrub and tree roots in the winter to keep the soil moist and loose? ST. FRANCIS: After throwing away the leaves, they go out and buy something which they call mulch. They haul it home and spread it around in place of the leaves. GOD: And where do they get this mulch? ST. FRANCIS: They cut down trees and grind them up to make the mulch. GOD: Enough! I don't want to think about this anymore. St. Catherine, you're in charge of the arts. What movie have you scheduled for us tonight? ST. CATHERINE: 'Dumb and Dumber', Lord. It's a story about... GOD: Never mind, I think I just heard the whole story from St. Francis.
Humorous? Yes. Ironic? Yes. Completely true? Not necessarily. Everything should be considered in context and an effort kept to maintain the balance of two extremes. Many of the “weeds” we control in lawns are not native to the North American Continent. They were brought here by early settlers from their home countries, where growth was kept in check by natural predators and diseases there. Without those natural predators and diseases, they’ve multiplied so fast that here they’re classified as weeds. Turfgrass provides many environmental and social benefits (material for another blog post), and a thick mat of leaves covering the lawn can be detrimental to the environment and your landscape.
However it is topic worth digging into because we should never continue doing something just “because that’s the way it’s always been done”. With a movement growing to “leave the leaves” https://buckrail.com/communities-asked-to-let-leaves-stay-where-they-fall/ https://www.usda.gov/media/blog/2022/10/17/fall-leave-leaves we want to lead the trends in adopting cultural practices that make sense for you. Our vision is to provide value to your landscape and be proactive to enhance natural resources. If leaving the leaves makes the most sense for your yard, gardens or budget we want to provide that option. But one size doesn’t fit all . Read on as I address some FAQ’s about our Fall Cleaning Services.
Should we pick up and haul away leaves?
It is true in a natural forest environment, leaves that fall to the ground in Autumn provide a blanket for the forest floor to insulate roots from extreme cold, conserve moisture, host a variety of fungi that work to provide organic matter for plant growth, and provide housing for a number of insects, amphibians, mammals and other beneficial creatures. Some of those same benefits can apply to your yard, garden beds and tree wells. It’s also true that picking up the leaves and hauling to the dump burns fossil fuels in blowers, mowers, and trucks etc. and costs you more money. Based on those truths you could conclude that YES! Leaving the leaves is the right thing to do.
Flip the coin over. There can be drawbacks to leaving the leaves which are maybe not worth the risk?
- Those same leaves provide shelter and overwintering structure for pests you may not want near your home and landscape.
- There are Fungi that can decrease the aesthetic value of trees in summer, hauling away the leaves decreases infection and is better than spraying curative fungicides.
- Insects that cause physical harm to trees over winter in the leaf litter, and hauling away the leaves is a good BMP to reduce their incidence and the need for pesticides.
- Leaves can harbor too much moisture near the base of tree trunks and cause root rot .
- A thick blanket of leaves covering the turf suffocates the grass, prevents sunlight from allowing photosynthesis and increases the fungal infection of snow mold. It also offers shelter for voles to safely damage your lawn shielded from raptors.
- Wet leaves left on hard scapes, steps and decks can be a slippery hazard and are just messy and gross all winter long every time you shovel snow.
So, the answer to the question is “it depends”. And that is precisely why we want to offer various levels of leaf cleaning services. If you feel like your property would benefit from the leaf litter left alone, if you want the leaves to be ground up by our mowers and top dressed on the lawn, or if you prefer to have everything hauled away we can provide any of those services. We have mowers to suck up and remove the leaves and mowers to grind up and topdress the leaves.
Can you help me decide which option is best for me?
Absolutely! If you call us we can walk you through a decision process to create the best plan for your property, your budget and your objectives. Unless we hear from you, we will still pick up and haul away the leaves as that’s still the expectation on most properties. From a generally speaking environmental perspective this is what we recommend:
- Leaves that fall in garden beds, unmaintained native areas and under trees in shady areas without turf can be left alone to compost and build organic matter
- Leaves which lightly cover the lawn should be mowed with mulching mowers leaving a light topdressing of ground up leaves to be incorporated into the soil as organic matter
- Lawn areas receiving a heavy blanket of leaves should be raked/blown and hauled away so as not to suffocate the turf. If you have a compost pile or garden on site where you’d like to dump the leaves let us know to save you money on the dump fee.
What happens to the leaves you haul away?
Teton county has developed an excellent composting program in cooperation with Terra Firma Organics at the trash transfer station. You can rest assured the leaves we haul away do not end up producing methane in a landfill. The dump fees you pay cover the labor and equipment to mix the leaves with wood chips and grass to create a compost product that is available for sale at the Evans Construction Landscape yard.
Why do you switch to billing T&M during the fall mowing season?
Summer mowing flat rate pricing is based on a per foot matrix that is predictable and doesn’t change. Picking up leaves on the other hand changes every year as trees get bigger, produce more leaves or as trees die and are removed. To be fair to you and to us, we switch to billing by time with a dump fee so that in the case of fewer trees than the year before you don’t pay extra, and in the case of trees getting bigger we are covered to do a thorough job. When the turf slows it’s growth in early October, weekly mowing visits convert to bi-weekly leaf pickup visits and most properties receive 2-3 visits to pick up the leaves as they steadily come down over a 4 week period. The goal is the final visit at the end of October is after all the leaves have come down. Some years the trees tarry or we get an early snow preventing complete cleanup and those just carry over to spring cleanups.
Is cleaning leaves out of the gutters part of your normal fall cleaning service?
We can clean your gutters, but that is a separate service done later in the fall once we are done with our all our lawn cleanings. Gutter cleaning requires ladders, special equipment and careful execution so we don’t do it with our regular lawn service.
Loved the conversation with God and St. Francis.
Jon, I will call you next week. One of our issues each spring is with the Voles. As I understand it, more leaf debris encourages the Voles.
Did Pilar give our rock garden a treatment with Castor Oil?