Idahoans’ Official Guide On What To Do With Your Leaves

Fall means...well fall. As in, the leaves are falling. All over our lawns, more specifically.

When your grass is covered in dead leaf carcasses, what's one to do? Don't worry, we've done our research.

Putting leaves in a bag for disposal is fine, but they usually end up in a landfill somewhere and that's kinda gross. So that's not really what we're going for.

The answer? Mulching your leaves into the grass when you mow. Matthew Perkins, the Urban and Community Forestry Program manager at the Idaho Department of Lands (my god, did they make the job title that long on purpose?) and he's lending us his expertise:

Collecting your leaf clippings and your grass clippings and reusing those can count for up to twenty five percent of your lawns annual nitrogen needs.

Meaning: Small clippings of leaves can actually be good and benefit your lawn! It's basically free lawn food, and as long as the leaves aren't too big where they can smush and suffocate your lawn, you're good to go.

If you're thinking about just leaving all the leaves in full covering your lawn, don't. They can "pit out" your grass if covered in too much rain or snow, and in the spring you'll have plenty of patch repairing to do.

What do you do at home with your leaves? Do you chop 'em up for your grass to feed on, or just leave them and let nature do her thing? Let us know.