Fallen leaves gather on the front lawn of a home in Anchorage’s South Addition neighborhood on Wednesday, Sept. 29, 2021. (Emily Mesner / ADN)
I have said it before and I will say it again: Leaving leaves on your lawn all winter will not smother and kill it. In fact, I can’t remember anyone ever reporting a dead lawn after a winter, even those that lay down plastic and construct backyard ice rinks. The only exception is when the person mowed grass so short in the fall that it damaged the plants’ crown.
If we get any kind of snow cover, your yard’s leaves will decay as a result of the tremendous amount of microbial activity that occurs in the tiny melt space between the lawn and the snow. If there is no snow, the leaves will get blown around and eventually pile up along fences and around outbuildings.
In any case, rejoice that these leaves are falling. As you know, they fulfill the “Law of Return”: What falls from a plant should remain to feed it.
Gardeners break this law all the time, all summer long in fact, which is why I am always harping about using mulches. Here is an opportunity to let the law play out.
Yes, I am giving you permission to not rake your lawns. Sure, clean up your decks, walks and driveways, but forget the rest of the yard. The leaves you don’t pick up will decay and you will get a conditional pardon for being a nature scofflaw for most of the summer.
Ah, but a lawn full of leaves is also quite an opportunity for some pattern mowing! Nothing holds a good pattern like leaves, especially if you can mow when they are dry (which is when you should for safety reasons) and they then get wet and stay in place. The pattern will be visible in the winter and spring if there is no snow cover, and maybe even when there is only an inch or two of snow.
Make sure you pick up stuff that will be damaged, or will damage your mower such as sprinklers, garden tools, lawn games and the like. And, you might as well drain and coil up those hoses hidden under your leaves as they might not take too well to your lawn mower blades.
It makes sense to run over these leaves with a mower as the smaller pieces are, the quicker they decay. Mowing leaves on a lawn will impact the height of the grass there, and this begs the question of what height the grass should be going into the winter and dormancy.
If you cut grass too short, to the crown, you actually will damage your lawn. If you leave it too high during our long winters, you can get snow mold. Me? I say 2 inches is just fine for an Alaska lawn.
So I leave our leaves on our property, but the loyal reader knows that I am a big proponent of gathering the leaves from the lawns of those who bag up leaves and so graciously put them on the curb to be taken to a landfill. My advice? Check to ensure there is not a dog on the premises and take them. Ah, I guess technically you should ask permission, but I doubt anyone would care.
I grab as many of these bags as I can. Several are set aside for the compost pile next summer when leaves are not as readily available. I will some for mulch, too. Fall’s leaves are nature’s gold right now.
Jeff’s Alaska Garden Calendar:
Alaska Botanical Garden: Tai Chi workshop? Fall planting class? Story Time … These events and so much more, even to non-members (but you really should join). Check it out at www.alaskabg.org.
Houseplants: Check for spider mites now that the heat is on in your house. Look for webs at the axial of leaves and stems. Isolate infected plants and use some neem oil-based pesticide.
Pelargoniums: Known as geraniums to Americans, they can be grown indoors. Cut them back now and they will start blooming in late January. Keep cuttings. Let them heal over for 48 hours and then root in damp sand with a bit of compost or soil mixed in.
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