While it’s generally harmless to leave autumn leaves strewn around your garden, its a good idea to clear them up when they become wet and slippery.
Many of us gather up the leaves only to throw them away, but this often-overlooked garden waste can actually be quite beneficial if you choose to keep it.
Peter Chaloner, managing director at Cobra, a top supplier of gardening tools, suggests using fallen leaves as an “effective” winter plant care strategy by turning them into mulch.
“Although fallen leaves may be seen as troublesome to some gardeners, they can be used as an effective, natural (and free!) mulch,” the Express reports he said.
This natural resource can be spread across lawns, flowerbeds, and placed in pots to protect vegetation during the cold months.
Talking about the use of finely chopped leaves as mulch, he explained: “Not only does leaf mulch suppress the growth of weeds and eventually improve soil as it decomposes, but well-shredded leaf mulch can also help to insulate plant roots from the frost, without blocking the penetration of essential nutrients, water and air.”
He recommends sprinkling this shredded natural layer around sensitive plants and tucking it into the earth so it breaks down over time.
Finally, the most common use for surplus foliage is composting, the greener method of recycling organic matter like leaves and kitchen leftovers into a nutrient-dense compost for the garden.