Expert Landscape Contractors in Santa Barbara, CA

Fall leaves are like a big load of free organic fertilizer scattered in your yard. If those nutrients were bagged and sold, you'd pay money for them. In your yard, they're accessible -- except for the labor of gathering them. Collect the leaves and compost them, and you have a valuable soil amendment. But leave them where they lay, and they will likely smother lawn grasses, blow across your walkways, and generally annoy the neighbors. 😀 🍁1. Run your lawn mower back and forth through a layer of leaves to break them up, then use them as mulch in your perennial garden. 🍁2. Contact your city or county to find out if there is a leaf composting project in your area. Find out when you can start picking up compost. 🍁3. Fallen leaves provide cover for overwintering beneficial insects, such as lacewings and ground beetles. ​🍁4. ​You can serve both your need for a neat garden and the insects' need for winter homes by creating refugia: make envelopes of chicken wire, fill them with fallen leaves and sticks, and place them in a sheltered location. 🍁​5. Pile leaves in the paths between your vegetable garden beds. They'll provide a dry walking surface, and next spring, you can rake the decomposed leaves into your planting areas. ​🍁6. Add fallen leaves to indoor worm composting bins. They introduce vital decomposers, such as springtails and microbes, to the worm bin ecosystem that help the worms do their jobs better.