Good Reason To Rake Your Leaves

[Pat]

We still have leaves on the ground I was wondering if there was a problem if we did not get them all up. Here is a good reason.

Pests and Disease

• Garden pests, such as slugs, coddling moths and snails, and fungi that cause plant diseases, such as leaf spots and blight, flourish in dark, warm and humid environments. Piles of decomposing leaves form an ideal habitat for these vermin. You should not only rake the leaves in the fall to prevent these problem organisms; routinely remove masses of leaves and debris from in and around your flower beds and vegetable gardens throughout the spring, summer and fall months.
  

Read more: http://www.ehow.com/info_8025894_do-rake-leaves-lawn.html#ixzz2srN1wUgn

 

[Andy1982]

When you live in wet country it's just another place among many for these little beggers to hide. Did not know about the blight though, so thanks for sharing that . I love to rake them up and my dogs and daughter like to mess them up again.....Forget the slugs.

 

[firelily99]

Good advice Pat, most people don't realize the number of things that can hide out in a garden that wasn't put to bed properly in the fall. It takes time for a whole leaf to decompose, generally more than one winter season. I tend to be rigorous keeping debris and leaves out in all seasons, I've seen what happens when a garden isn't kept cleaned up.

 

[cmckinney01]

Thanks for this advice. I do rake my leaves. However, I leave some in my flower beds to compost. I will clean those out once the snow finally melts.

 

[Pat]

If it ever stops snowing or getting icy I will also get the leaves that have been left on the lawn picked up. Since the Azalea and Rhododendron plants have not been feed in awhile I will use those leaves to start a good mulch, add some additives to help break down the leaves faster.

 

[claudine]

Well, this explains why I have so many slugs in my garden
But I still plan to take the risk and to leave a few piles of leaves in my garden. Like I mentioned in another thread, hedgehogs like sleeping in them and I love hedgehogs!

 

[Lacey]

I always have raked my leaves, but I decided to let them sit over the winter to see if they would break down and be good for the lawn. Ha....bad mistake. I have been raking for a week straight to get all the gross leaves up. Luckily I have chickens that love to help and have kept the bugs down.. Needless to say, the leaves just turned into a big mess rather than any help with my lawn. I will know better next year.

 

[Whitewolf2578]

I used to live in the country and my house was surrounded by Oak trees, don't even get me started on leaves. I have to clean out my garden every day just because of all the leaves and there was always a huge problem with pill bugs, those little guys are the freaking worst to have in your garden they love eating roots for some reason. The nearest tree in this neighborhood is across the street and it doesn't have enough power to throw it's leaves over here!

 

[Trellum]

That's good to know! I can see having problems getting this done with my future husband, he will surely leave this task for later, just like he usually does with everything else It's good to have this in mind tho, this is a hell of a reason to get moving and never let those leaves rest on the soil for too long.

 

[Twinsmommy31]

This is good advice. I didn't realize that leaves cause all these issues. I guess I need to get the family together and get these leaves up. They keep falling every year and sometimes it is overwhelming to get them all up.

 

[gmckee1985]

I've never done leaf raking for the purposes of protecting my garden. I never knew leaves could be an issue. The reason I've done it in the past is to keep my yard nice and neat so it's nice to look at. I'm a bit of a neat freak. This is definitely some good information to know, though. I'll be sure to continue to keep my leaves raked.

 

[kevinkimers]

It is one of the reason's we always raked ours when I was growing up. It was always my favorite time. We would rake the leaves up and my mom would put some potatoes wrapped in tinfoil in as it slowly burned. The potatoes tasted amazing! My mom said, never put these around the trees (our yard was saturated with Georgia Oak and Pine) it would kill them.

One of the reasons I don't use mulch, moss, and other types of flower bed coverings is because of the bugs. However, I did learn recently that there are some kinds of bugs you DO want in your gardens. Praying Mantas being one of them.

 

[LouisFerdinand]

Why you should rake

 

[Esther Knapicius]

Always in the leaf relocation node.