Raking Leaves On Your Fall Lawn
An Important Part of Your Fall Lawn Care Maintenance
Have you ever wondered if raking leaves really serves a purpose? Of course, I mean a purpose other than providing a great deal of fun for jumping in. When no one's looking, I still love to rake up a heap of them and fall back on the pile like I used to do with my brothers and sister when we were kids.
Why Rake LeavesThere is good cause for raking up leaves as part of our lawn care fall chores. Sure, it makes the yard look nice and tidy, but it's also a necessary part of good fall lawn care for maintaining a healthy lawn.
Smothered Lawns Promote Lawn DiseasesLawns need to 'breathe' in order to receive proper supplies of oxygen and water for healthy roots. If they're smothered by a thick layer of leaves over the winter, you're encouraging a prime environment for lawn diseases, such as snow mold and mildew. And, if you've ever left the leaves to be picked up in the spring, you know only too well that they're no fun to handle when they're mushy and slimy.
Lawns also need sunlight, and in the fall, that sunlight helps stimulate our cool-season grasses just when they're working at developing stronger root systems to sustain them over the winter, and to be ready to supply spring growth. If they don't get a chance to take on necessary nutrients now, you'll have a weaker lawn come spring.
So, another good reason for raking leaves in the fall is to allow your lawn access to that sunlight. A heavy layer of fallen leaves means excess shade over the grass underneath.
Mulching Lawn Mowers - A Good Option?Raking leaves can be pretty hard work. A good alternative way of getting those leaves cleaned up is to use a mulching lawn mower.
Designed to shred grass clippings that can be left on the lawn, mulching lawn mowers prove the same is true for using them on the fall leaves. The bonus here is that they leave a healthy layer of shredded organic material that provides nutrients for the grass as it breaks down into a compost like material.
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