You may have a tidy lawn, but a damaged environment!

We may aspire for a clean looking lawn, but with the leaves, we are also blowing away the natural processes that can enrich our lawn. Leaves, if left on the lawn, can be a source of natural organic matter, replacing the soil with essential nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium.

not just about the plants

While blowing the leaves away, we are also removing the tiny creatures like the worms, insects, and other invertebrates. These creatures contribute more to our ecosystem for their free stay on our lawn. Clearing the leaves deprives beetles, spiders, and caterpillars of their shelter and food. Removing the leaves also disrupts the habitat and life cycle of the friendly pollinators like butterflies, bees, and moths. If they are all wiped clean, then predators like birds and larger animals are left with no food. Clean yards come at the cost of disturbing the food chain, using our not-so-cheap lawn toys.

wHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR US?

A green-enriched lawn and a thriving flower bed in the summer starts with leaving the leaf litter during fall and winter—it is as simple as that! It leaves a vibrant, self thriving ecosystem in our lawn.

On the other hand, a clean lawn does not support a clean climate later, as it breaks the ecosystem, harms biodiversity, and presents a less supportive, resilient environment. In short, we would spend money and effort towards detrimental effects on ecosystem biodiversity, thereby causing climate shifts from our very own lawn.