7 Eco-Friendly Tips for Using Fall Leaves
We had a huge rainstorm last week, and the next day, most of the trees in my garden dropped all their leaves.
With so many leaves on the ground, what can we do with all of them?
There are many ways to use fall leaves in your garden and around your home. Here are 7 Eco-Friendly Tips for Using Fall Leaves:
Naturally, you can just let the leaves decompose on the ground or add them to your vegetable beds. Leaves will enrich the soil your trees and providing a habitat for a range of wildlife.
- Enhance your garden
My favorite way to use fall leaves is to add them to my raised garden beds. I always smile when I hear how much money people spend on mulch when it’s usually free somewhere in your neighborhood. We use grass clippings, weeds and leaves, and old plants as mulch.
Building up the layers in a no-dig raised bed is a great way to create rich soil, so you’ll have a thriving soil ecosystem in the spring.
Fall is an excellent time to build a compost pile, which can be as simple as staking up a hoop of three-foot-high chicken wire. Then, just add leaves to your composting systems along with other biodegradable materials.
Pro tip: After Halloween and Thanksgiving, look for leftover bales of straw on sale–or even left out for garbage collection. Straw makes for excellent mulch and can be added to the compost pile along with your leaves.
- Use leaves as mulch
Fall leaves make excellent mulch, and as a bonus, they’re free!
Leaf mulch tends to break down and blend into the soil quickly–adding lots of nutrients–and it blocks weeds from forming. Using leaves as mulch also entices earthworms to your garden soil.
- Create fall-themed decorations
I use fall leaves for zero-waste decorations, both indoors and outdoors.
Along with mini pumpkins, fall leaves make beautiful decorations for holiday parties, dinners, or an attractive fall-themed front door decoration.
- Pile & play
Fun for kids (big and small); simply rake your leaves into piles and jump right in!
- Make seasonal crafts
My kids love to craft with fall leaves–especially making fall wreaths.
Here are some of my favorite craft ideas for kids.
