As the late summer yellows and purples of goldenrod and aster fade and hummingbirds wave good-bye to western New York, we watch in awe as nature shares her graceful surrender to change with a gradual chorus of color that sings to our senses and plays to our eyes as their leaves dance and sway to the autumn music.
As the pieces of this luminous tapestry begin their descent to the ground, our love and appreciation of them somehow changes, and their beauty is somehow lost. As they lay and collect on the ground and in our yards, we change our focus and see something that is ugly and unusable. In our neighborhoods and communities, we spend tedious hours raking, bagging, and blowing trying to remove every last leaf.
Let’s embrace nature’s beautiful change. Instead of viewing leaves as nature’s trash, let’s think of them as tiny treasures that can reward us with more time and money, fertilizer for our lawns and gardens, and protection for our water quality.
Yes, water quality. How we manage the leaves in our yards has a profound effect on our watershed’s water quality. In our forests, fallen leaves float down from trees and slowly decay and decompose into the earth. Their nutrients become a rich and valuable fertilizer which nurtures and feeds the forest floor. However, in a more urban community setting, leaves fall on hard structures, roofs, and concrete. They collect and gather in gutters and storm drains and have no time to fully decay or decompose. Their nutrients then flow straight from storm drains to nearby rivers, streams, and lakes.
Quite often, it is common to see leaves raked into our streets or piled on top of storm drains. As rain falls and flows through our city and neighborhood streets, nutrients like phosphorous quickly leach out of these leaf piles like a tea bag in water. This “leaf tea” makes its way to our local waterways through our streets’ storm sewer system. Too much phosphorus in our waterways causes unsightly and potentially dangerous algae blooms, turning water green and smelly while also lowering oxygen levels. This is bad for the plants and animals that live in our waterways as well as for people, especially if the waterway is used as a public water supply or for recreation.
So what can we as homeowners do to responsibly manage the leaves in our yards and make them an asset rather than a chore, hinderance, or detriment to our water quality?
Here are four easy, purposeful steps you can take to save time and money, reap the benefits of our beautiful changing seasons, and help our community’s water quality:
Participate in your community’s leaf collection program
Fertilize your lawn naturally – mulch leaves with a lawn mower
Compost leaves to use in your gardens or use as mulch around your plants
Keep streets and storm drains clear of leaves
So remember that fall and all of the spectacular scents and vivid colors that come with it are a wonderful reminder that change is beautiful! Let’s change our viewpoint on fall yard care and view leaves as free gifts from nature that give us time and money, free fertilizer, and clean water!
Article and photo by Conservationist Carol Markham