Ah, leaves. As the fall season is upon us and our leaves start to drop, the mass raking, mowing, bagging, and dumping at our curbs takes place. I would like to present some very good reasons for using our leaves and other organic matter on-site instead of disposing of them off of our properties.

By using our organic yard waste, such as leaves, small branches, plant stalks, garden matter, and grass clippings to feed our yards and gardens, we create a healthier, living soil. Soil rich in nutrients and organisms is fertile and creates a lighter density that is better at holding water. One of the earth’s most important resources is fresh water. By holding water, nutrient-rich soils not only benefit our trees, plants and grasses, they help feed our underground aquifers and assure us of water in our future. Compacted, chemically-treated, dead soil will not hold water. Water runs right over the top of such soils to lower ground, street gutters, or nearby streams and lakes.

Whether we drive to drop off our yard waste or municipal workers pick it up, the act of sending it to dumping sites is very expensive, uses precious fuels, and creates significant carbon output. The irony is that after sending our compostable materials away, many of us go to our county site to get composted matter to feed our yards and gardens, or we buy manure and other soil amending products to do the job. Using our leaf and yard waste resources right at home saves us from doing both.

Composting yard wastes doesn’t have to be tedious or time consuming, especially if we put our organic matter right back into our garden beds and under our trees.

I hope you’ll consider trying some of these techniques. Our lakes and your soil will greatly appreciate it, and you will be working within the natural cycle of decay and regeneration.

For more ideas and specifics, please pick-up the UW-Extension Yard Care Series handout Managing Leaves and Yard Trimmings at the Sustainability Section at the Monona Public Library, or access it on line at this link: http://learningstore.uwex.edu/Yard-Care-Series-Managing-Leaves-and-Yard-Trimmings-P433C0.aspx.