If you add shredded leaves into your garden’s soil, come springtime, you’re going to have lots of earthworms and other helpful organisms. Nutrient-rich soil = really happy and healthy plants.
Combine these fallen leaves with other waste materials you’d usually add to the compost pile, like grass clippings, vegetable scraps, or other plants you might be throwing away. Then if you let it sit over winter, and occasionally turn it, you’ll have some great compost to use in your garden in the spring.
If compositing sounds like too much work, then make leaf mold. All you need to do is put your leaves into a big pile and then let them sit for 12-24 months. The only work you’ll need to do is occasionally wet the leaves in the drier periods so they stay moist.
Leaves make a fantastic mulch that can be used on top of your garden beds, around flowers, bushes, or trees and will help retain moisture in the soil and prevent weeds from growing. All you need to do is add 2-3 inches of the leaf mulch around your plants, and be sure to keep it away from the stems.
Having piles of leaves scattered around the garden makes the perfect protection for butterflies, bees, moths, and other important pollinators. Many of these creatures rely on leaves and other dead plant material for hibernation or protection from the cold winter.