Leave the Leaves - In the Right Place

• Instead of traditional bagging and sending your leaves off to the landfill, where they can contribute to methane gas, a 20X more powerful greenhouse gas than C02, consider a leaf pile in an unused corner of your yard.
• Not only will this benefit overwintering insects, but you can also use leaves as a free mulch on garden beds, where they will slowly breakdown (when adding to a compost pile, shredding will assist with breakdown).
• For water quality purposes, make sure you don't ever leave leaves on the street - this contributes to high phosphorous pollution in the local watershed, whereas these leaves break down naturally in your flower beds, compost or leaf pile.
• More information at: https://www.ecolandscaping.org/10/developing-healthy-landscapes/ecological-landscaping-101/leave-the-leaves/

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https://xerces.org/blog/leave-the-leaves

Leave the Leaves! | Xerces SocietyOne of the most valuable things you can do to support pollinators and other invertebrates is to provide them with the winter cover they need in the form of fall leaves and standing dead plant material. Frequently however, this is the hardest pill for gardeners to swallow. xerces.org