LEAVE THE LEAVES
Support biodiversity – both above and below ground – by, yes!
🍂 Leaving the Leaves 🍂
See the recording of our conversation from October, 2024
A Community Q&A about Eco-gardening Practices
Our eco-gardening experts and fellow eco-gardeners answer burning questions.
Have you fallen in love with creating a native habitat garden? Have you converted your entire lawn or a small patch or are you just considering some changes? Have you tried sheet mulching, building windrows and limiting fall clean up to give forage to the birds and insects? Are you passionate about biodiversity and planting for birds, bees, butterflies and moths? Try leaving the leaves!
Why should I leave the leaves?
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Leaves harbor and sustain beneficial insects, which in turn sustain birds and other critters.
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Leaves protect and nurture the soil and the plants that grow there.
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Leaving leaves means using less fossil fuels – an essential response to the climate crisis.
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Leaves are beautiful
More resources
Our video from last year:
Leave the Leaves: An Introduction and Conversation on Soil & Climate Benefits
September, 2023 by Rachel Neurath PhD
Stop Raking Leaves, the Carbon Sink in Your Yard Needs Help
Outside Magazine's Raking Leaves is Pointless and Bad for Your Yard
Noah's Garden: Restoring the Ecology of Our Own Backyards by Sara Stein
Doug Tallamy's book Nature's Best Hope and website Homegrown National Park
"We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect." ~ Aldo Leopold
