Why Raking Your Autumn Leaves Is a Must before Winter

Autumn leaves may be beautiful, but that doesn’t mean you should allow them to linger on your lawn through the fall and into the winter. Many homeowners do not realize the problems that can easily arise from allowing fallen leaves to stay on a lawn once the cold weather arrives. Ultimately, it’s a matter of keeping your lawn healthy, not just aesthetics.

How Leaves Might Harm Your Lawn

The fall months typically include some of the most variable temperatures throughout the year. It can feel close to spring one day and then bitterly cold the next, and precipitation can be just as unpredictable. Leaves are also biological material. When they change colors and fall from trees, this is a sign they have died, and they will begin to decompose soon.

It’s essential to remove fallen leaves from your lawn for several reasons:

• Piles of leaves block the sunlight from reaching your grass. If you allow the leaves to remain on your lawn for too long, this could create dead spots in your grass that may take quite a long time to grow back, especially since these spots won’t be healthy enough to withstand the winter weather.
• Leaves also block your grass from receiving other essential nutrients like water and healthy air is needs to stay healthy.

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• If the leaves form a barrier over your grass, the decomposition of the fallen leaves will eventually attract contaminants and even pests. Insects love decomposing plants, and the rotting leaves can also lead to problems like snow mold and brown patches.
• Allowing leaves to remain all winter long will make it much harder for new blades of grass to sprout in the spring.
• Fallen leaves can be especially damaging to cool season grasses. These grasses grow the strongest and experience the highest activity levels during the cool weather, and fallen leaves can inhibit their growth when they should be growing the most.

For these reasons, it is important to remove the leaves from your yard on a regular basis until winter arrives. By the time the weather turns very cold, the trees around your property should have finished shedding their leaves. However, keep watch for fallen leaves as the weather changes and remove them as they appear. You don’t need to worry about removing every single leaf as soon as it touches the ground, but don’t allow the leaves to remain for too long.

Use a rake or leaf blower to collect the leaves in one spot. If your township or municipality offers curbside leaf disposal, you may only need to rake them into the street before cleanup day. Another option is to empty your leaves into a compost bin. As your fallen leaves and other compostable materials break down over the winter, it could become valuable fertilizer for your spring planting.

Perrysburg Landscape offers a full range of residential and commercial landscaping services. If neglected autumn leaves have damaged your lawn, contact us today to find out how we can help you repair it and get your lawn in the right shape for a healthier growing season.