Leaves, small twigs, and soft-stemmed garden plants are often accepted during Fall Leaf Collection. This material does not require grinding prior to composting.
ONLY Paper yard bags or re-usable containers are accepted for Fall Leaf Collection. Leaves in plastic bags will NOT be collected. Paper bags are composted with the leaves and do not require de-bagging by the collection crews.
Co-mingled bags (leaves with brush, grass, weeds, garbage, etc/) will not be permitted. Brush may be brought in separately, but there will be a fee at some places.
Or, you can rake them directly into your gardens to act as a cozy blanket for your plants all winter. Leave them all winter and they will break down quickly into soil in the spring.
Leaves can provide the organic material that lawns need to be healthy and lush. The easiest way to make sure the soil under the grass is good is to leave a layer of finely chopped leaves on the lawn every fall. A half inch of finely chopped leaves left on the lawn every year will insure your turf will have a deep root system and stay dense, which prevents weeds from showing up.
The leaves are pulled down into the soil by earthworms. By late spring the worms will have either consumed or moved those leaves below the soil s surface. The leaves become food for the microbes that populate a healthy soil. An easy way to leave a half inch layer of chopped leaves on the lawn is to use a mulching" lawn mower. These mowers cut the grass blades and the leaves into small pieces before throwing them back on to the turf. One half inch of finely chopped leaves over 1000 square feet of lawn is equal to 33 bags of whole leaves.
If you have the average lawn which is about 6000 square feet, you can leave the equivalent of over 150 bags of leaves right on your lawn, feeding the soil, and saving all that work raking and bagging.
A layer up an inch thick will do good things and not hurt the living grass plants. More than that could smother some of the grass plants and kill them. Since your grass should be mowed at 2 inches or higher, a layer of 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch won't even be visable. If you can easily see the chopped leaves, then make sure the layer is not too thick.
For more information see: http://www.yardener.com/RECYCLINGLEAVES.html or this information from Texas A M University: http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/county/smith/compost/leafmanage.html
Lawn equipment businesses sell mutching lawn mowers. Check your local stores.
