As the calendar turns to fall and temperatures begin to cool mother nature also begins to change. In the fall of the year leaves provide a beautiful sight with their stunning red and orange hues. Depending on your location, all trees other than evergreens will undergo these often picture perfect adjustments in preparation for the coming winter.
Types of Fall Leaves
Evergreen trees like spruce, pine, and hemlock, however, will hold onto their needles because they are protected and built to withstand the fast approaching cold temperatures. If located in an area fortunate enough to have both types of trees the stark contrasts between the autumn hues of the broadleaf trees against the evergreens create a beautiful sight.
However, those trees sporting the awe-inspiring views also indicate a problem is fast approaching because those leaves fall to the ground after changing colors. When leaves fall from the trees in autumn they can become a nuisance to home or business owners in need of keeping up a well-manicured landscape.
The groundcover of whole leaves can be detrimental to the grass underneath in addition to clogging gutters and drains creating issues with rainwater runoff. For these reasons, owners must clear the leaves either by raking, blowing, bagging, or some combination of the above.
What to do with fall leaves
Following are three useful ideas for what can be done with all of the leaves once they’re on the ground.
COMPOST/MULCH
One of the more beneficial uses for leaves is to create mulch for plants or compost. In fact, according to the Old Farmer’s Almanac, mowing over the leaves as they are in place a few times will allow them to naturally add nutrients to your lawn.
Make certain the leaves are broken down into small pieces where they do not block sunlight from reaching the surface and the leaf pieces will make their way naturally to the soil. This is one of the easiest and most beneficial ways to turn this negative into a positive with little effort.
HAVE FUN
Pile up the leaves and either run through them or jump in! Kids, dogs, and even adults will have a blast and most leaves will not get too scattered by playing in them. In fact, one way to get help with the chore of collecting leaves from the lawn is to tell the kids you’re building a place for them to play. In addition to helping rake and build the pile, participants will continually be adding to the area in order to maintain a good jumping and run through pile!
DECORATION
Another idea is to use the leaves for decoration. When they fall, often a leaf will maintain it’s bright orange or reddish color and can be used to create a variety of fall art. Make a wreath with leaves and pinecones for a decorative fall themed door piece.
If you want to bag the others, use bright orange colored trash bags and then simply add a Halloween jack-o-lantern face with a black marker for an instant holiday decoration. Depending on the number of leaves you have to remove, you may have three or more bagged leaf pumpkins to greet trick-or-treaters when the time comes.
While these ideas are useful another option is to remove the trees altogether and avoid the cleanup that is approaching or for the next season. If desired, let our certified professional’s help with any and all of your immediate tree removal or trimming needs. The experts at Splintered Forest are happy to provide you a free estimate for any of their wide variety of services and can even assist with multiple of ways for hauling and the disposal of your unwanted property. With over ten years of professional experience, they can assist with any tree issue you encounter.