Leaf Litter is an essential habitat element for wildlife
This is the time of year when those giant paper bags full of fallen leaves start appearing on sidewalks around the country. This is also the time of year I drive around my neighborhood picking up those bags of leaves in my truck and spreading them throughout my garden beds.
The practice of removing our yard waste to landfills is enormously unsustainable:
- We spend endless hours raking, blowing, and bagging the leaves that fall every year.
- The use of leaf blowers is a source of noise pollution and air pollution, and uses large amounts of non-renewable fossil fuel.
- These huge piles are hauled away by truck, using more gasoline and causing more air pollution.
- Often this organic yard material is dumped into landfills, which destroys wildlife habitat.
- Then we have mulch trucked in to replace the benefits of the leaves we just hauled away.
- And we replace the nutrients that were freely available from the decomposition of those leaves with synthetic fertilizers, which are another petroleum product.
This cycle cannot be sustained without causing increasing damage to our environment. It is much more sustainable to manage this yard waste on our own properties.
Fortunately, this is very easy to do and also returns nutrients to the soil, provides habitat for many organisms, and ensures healthy plants.
I pile up these leaves in every one of my flower beds, sometimes it is more than two feet deep. In the spring I take a hand rake and loosen the leaves around my emerging plants, which hide the leaves during the growing season. By the time the next leaves fall, the old leaves have completely decomposed and the soil is ready for a new blanket.
Why do I do this?
- There is a cycle of life contained in the leaf litter and we destroy many forms of wildlife every time we remove these leaves.
- Many butterflies find shelter in the leaf litter, either in egg, pupal, or adult form, to safely wait out the winter and emerge in the spring.
- Leaf litter provides food and shelter to an amazing variety of invertebrates who break down the leaves, which feeds the soil and other wildlife.
- Healthy plants are dependent on healthy soil.
- The deeper the leaf litter, the more spiders are supported. Spiders are an essential element in keeping pest insects in balance.
- Leaf litter is also home to ladybugs, salamanders, toads, and other predators of pest insects. It is no wonder that pests like aphids thrive when we continue to destroy the habitat of the predators that would keep them under control.
- Every spring these leaves are covered with birds who pick through the leaves in search of a tasty meal.
- Trucked in mulch is not necessary when the leaves are left to cover the soil because the leaf litter acts as a natural blanket of mulch, controlling soil moisture and temperature.
I know there are many gardeners who cannot bear the thought of even one leaf creating a “mess” in their pristine garden beds. But it’s easy to tuck the leaves under your shrubs or in a back corner where they can work their magic and leave your sense of tidyness intact.
Or the leaves can be composted and then spread over your soil so at least the natural nutrients can be returned to the soil.
The benefits to your local wildlife far outweigh any need for neatness.
What do you do with the leaves in your garden? What wildlife have you noticed in your leaf litter?
© 2009 – 2012, Carole Sevilla Brown. All rights reserved. This article is the property of EcosystemGardening.com If you are reading this at another site, please report that to us
About Carole Sevilla Brown
As I read this, there was a leaf blower going in the neighbor’s yard. Jeesh. It’s funny that you mentioned that you collect other people’s leaves. On my walks with the dogs lately, I have thought about collecting leaves, too. My husband read that leaf mold was one of the best mulches of all time – and it’s free! Between the leaves and the multitude of deposits from our backyard chickens, I should be all set!
.-= Michelle (What’s Cooking)´s last post ..A Few Pollan-isms and Food Rules =-.
Thanks for the reminder and ideas Carole. My guilty secret is that I’ve sent leaves to the landfill, all the while agonizing and hating to do it. I’m hoping to keep the leaves home this year – leaves that have fallen so far have been mulched into the grass by double-cutting with the mower (two passes over the lawn). My challenge has been that Kansas is windy in winter and leaves travel and don’t stay in the flower beds. And with 5 large trees in a fairly small yard the volume is too large to manage in compost piles.
.-= Alison Kerr´s last post ..Make Like a Kansas Possum and Prepare for a Prairie Winter =-.
I think if more people realized that it’s more sustainable to manage their yard waste on their own properties, they would gladly skip the bagging portion of their fall. Thanks for the informative article and another beautiful photo!
.-= Wendy´s last post ..WDAY Green Tip #17 – Take the Bus =-.
As a co-consiprator who has helped Carole collect discarded bags of leaves on fall evenings, I can attest to the magic those leaves have done for our soil (which was not very productive when we bought our house 8 years ago). I was dubious that several feet of leaves would break down over the course of one year. Put the proof is in the pudding (or in this case, in the compost-rich soil).
Our beds are bordered by framed deer fencing that helps contain the leaves (and protect our gardens from the wrestling and racing of our two young hounds), I’m guessing there might be some kind of easy addition that could help Alison keep from losing her leaves to the Kansas winds? Hmmm…we’re smart gals, we can figure this out!
I collect up all of our fallen leaves and put them in a compost bin – it makes the most amazing mulch!
.-= Phil´s last post ..Prepare your garden for winter =-.
We pile our leaves in our flower beds and naturalized areas under the trees By the end of the next summer those leaves have almost totally decomposed and we’re ready for more! We also have pine straw that we handle in the same way.
Ginny recently posted..When God sorts out the weather and sends rain
Carole, thanks for a post that has been helping me re-think the way I care for clients’ gardens. I’ll be linking to it soon in an article I’ve written.
Genevieve recently posted..Why I Hate Landscape Fabric- An Unfair and Unbalanced Look at Weed Cloth
Unfortunately, almost all of my leaves are from oak trees, which means that my leaf compost is very acidic. I have to be careful to only use it around plants that enjoy acidic soil, like blueberries.
Bill Brikiatis recently posted..Transplant at Proper Soil Temperature