Preserve the unity of nature.
We humans like to keep everything in order and often impose this obsession on nature. For example, many people feel the need to remove fallen leaves from their garden with various garden machines and tools.
However, everything has a place in the cycle of nature.
In addition to the fact that, for example, leaf blowers cause significant noise pollution, these devices are also harmful: they stir microorganisms and small organisms in the air or vacuum them together with the leaves. Consider your garden as an ecosystem and stop using these devices!
Fallen leaves are part of nature: they function as mulch in vegetable and flower beds, protection against frost around the base of plants, and a home for hedgehogs. The only place where it is not good to leave fallen leaves is the lawn, which can be ruined by the leaves, because the grass underneath can become infected with fungal diseases and start to rot. The leaves should therefore not be removed from the garden, but collected with a rake and delivered to the most suitable place.
Particularly valuable is the foliage of fruit trees, which decomposes easily; the leaves of cherry and apple trees, for example, usually turn into humus in just one winter.Maple, linden and hazel leaves are also soft and rot quickly.
Why not remove fallen leaves?
- fallen leaves provide protection against frost, and also function as natural mulch and cover for sensitive plants,
- small animals, insects, beetles, spiders and hedgehogs live in piles of dry leaves,
- birds find food – beetles, worms and caterpillars – in the leaf litter,
- fallen leaves are also a very important source of nutrients for earthworms. Earthworms play an important role in the formation of humus and the maintenance of healthy soil,
- leaf litter is part of the closed nutrient cycle. Just think of the forests where the leaves fall in the autumn and as they decompose they supply the trees with nutrients..
If you just rake the fallen leaves into piles, you are doing good for your garden and the organisms that live in it, and you are not doing any unnecessary work either. Also, you can save money because you will need less winter protection and fertilizer for your plants.