Here’s how to handle excess leaves on your lawn this fall
I have a lot of oak trees on my property, and I am already tired of cleaning up leaves. Can you offer any advice to reduce my work this fall? — Sheila Trummer, Lake Bluff
Since you have a lot of trees on your property, you should continue mowing about once a week now as the leaves start falling more rapidly. Once every couple of weeks is likely enough in early to mid-October unless your grass is growing quickly. A thick layer of leaves that covers the grass may smother the lawn if left over the winter.
A medium to dense layer of leaves can damage any areas of the lawn that were seeded earlier this fall and are just getting established. Carefully rake or blow some of leaves off the new grass if the ground is too soft to push a mower over. If the mower leaves ruts as you are mowing, the area should not be mowed.
I use a mulching mower for my lawn — which has several mature oak trees — throughout the year and I do not collect any clippings. This saves a lot of time and eliminates the need to dispose of the grass clippings and most of the leaves, while returning nutrients back to the lawn. My grass is barely growing now but the leaf drop is increasing so I plan to resume mowing about once every 7 to 10 days to avoid having the layer of leaves get too thick on the lawn, reducing the efficiency of the mulching mower blades.
Change the direction of mowing each time you mow. You should be able to easily see the blades of grass after you are finished mowing for the season. You may need to need to remove some leaves from the lawn due to the high volume of leaves that drop from large oak trees.
Raking leaves before mowing or bagging the leaves as you mow will result in a more manicured appearance to your lawn. Leaves that have been ground up decompose more quickly in a compost pile. My personal preference is a more natural look with some leaves on the lawn and in the beds. I wait until spring to cut back perennials in my garden while leaving leaves in the beds to serve as mulch. I do not remove them in spring. Leaving the leaves in place provides habitat for wildlife and insects and a more natural cycling of nutrients. I do not add mulch to any established beds in my garden.
On occasion, the leaves pile up too deeply in the borders and need to be reduced to avoid smothering perennials and bulbs. Excess leaves can be piled up in a corner to decompose, creating compost to use for future soil improvement.