Experts Say Not to Rake All the Fall Leaves

If you don't feel like raking your fall leaves, maybe you should go with the gut instinct and not rake them. As it turns out, some nature experts are saying that raking your fall leaves can actually be worse for your lawn and wildlife than just letting them sit naturally. There are actually some major benefits to leaving leaves in their natural state, both when it comes to decomposition and protecting the cold ground and critters under those leaves over the winter months.

Fall leaves on the lawn are also a sort of fertilizer that can help your soil. The experts at the Pennsylvania Horticulture Society say leaving fall leaves on the ground helps provide vital nutrients to your lawn.

"Fallen leaves contain carbon, nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium, calcium, magnesium, and sulfur," they stated. "These organic elements all play vital roles in improving your soil’s health and, in turn, will promote the growth of healthy plants and food crops come springtime."

The Pennsylvania Horticulture Society also says that leaves in your yard and kind of like "one warm and heavy blanket, sheltering everything underneath it from the cold season" and that "leaves are a great barrier from frost and the bitter cold of winter."

"Dead leaves play a major role in infusing soil with new nutrients," PBS notes. "The invertebrates that come along to munch on the leaves start the process of breaking them down before microbes help finish the job." Theresa Crimmins, director of the USA National Phenology Network, also told PBS that "when trees take in carbon dioxide in order to photosynthesize, it's stored in their bark, trunks, roots, as well as their leaves."

Some people may see leaves as being some kind of litter or garbage on a lawn. But, that's not the case. Fallen leaves are part of the ecosystem.

"Leaves are not litter," Matthew Shepherd, the director of outreach and education at Xerces Society, told Outside Online. "They provide critical food and shelter for butterflies, beetles, bees, moths and other invertebrates, and we need to stop thinking of these tiny creatures as pests but rather as heroes. Instead of banishing them from our spaces, we need to roll out the welcome mat." Also, those butterflies, beetles, bees and critters are important to humankind, "because they transfer pollen from plant to plant, which helps plants and crops reproduce, according to Outside Online.