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Pros and Cons: Do I need to remove the leaves in the autumn in the garden. Why remove fallen leaves? Do I need to collect foliage in the garden in spring

Fallen autumn leaves appear now in one, then in another corner of the garden. I really don’t feel like running from apple trees to cherries for 2-3 months, and then to mock orange, and every gardener has ever thought about whether to clean the leaves in the fall in the country or to entrust everything to nature.

If you have not yet decided on the answer to this question, let's figure out what happens in the garden with foliage during the autumn winter period and whether you need these processes.

What happens to fallen leaves in the garden

If you think that it is not too late to remove the foliage in spring, but cold period it will lie quietly under the trees and become an additional mulch, then you make 5 mistakes at once:

• Foliage - bad material for mulch, because, when wet, the leaves become caked and turn into a dense thin layer that does not allow air to pass to the roots and does not allow the earth to evaporate moisture, that is, foliage left without additional shelter contributes to the decay of plants.
• On fallen leaves, harmful insects most often lay their eggs, and their larvae also pupate. With the onset of spring at the first sunshine pests will wake up from sleep, and they won’t even have to go far for prey - the native tree or bush is already here, you can begin to grow and reproduce.
• In addition, the leaves are often affected by fungal diseases - powdery mildew, anthracnose, gray mold, late blight. The spores of their pathogens overwinter well and, once in the soil, disperse even more actively in your garden in the new season.
• Bacterial diseases are less common in the garden, but their probability cannot be ruled out. Rotting leaves are a great environment for the spread of bacteria, and those that have arisen in winter sunburn on trees, they become that weak point through which bacteria enter a favorable environment and begin to destroy plants.
• The leaves that have fallen on the lawn rot during the winter, but not alone, but along with a section of the lawn on which bald spots appear in the spring. The affected area will not be able to recover on its own, and you will have to first remove the dead grass, and then sow a new one.

Where to remove leaves from the garden and vegetable garden

Supporters of eco-farming adhere to the version that it is either not necessary to remove foliage from under apple trees, pears and other fruit trees at all, or it is necessary to compost heaps. We will reject the first version immediately for the reasons already listed, but we will consider the second in more detail.

So, composting fallen leaves can be considered reasonable only on the condition that your garden has absolutely healthy trees, and you have carried out all seasonal insecticide treatments in a timely manner. We are sure that together with the foliage you do not lay in compost heap no fungal spores, no insect eggs, no harmful bacteria? Then feel free to layer the foliage with earth or manure and leave it - in two years you will receive excellent fertilizer.

But if you are not sure about the health of your own garden, then you should not aggravate the situation and it is better to take all the collected leaves outside the site and burn them.

If there is a forest area near your dacha, you can take the collected foliage there, but remember that this only applies to foliage - it is strictly forbidden to do this with garbage or household waste.

How to remove leaves from trees

Even for such a simple, at first glance, business as cleaning up fallen leaves, certain skills and special tools are needed.

You will need:

• traditional rake;
• fan rake;
• wheelbarrow;
• garbage bags with a volume of 100 liters or more or a spunbond sheet measuring 3 × 3 m;
• gardening gloves.

After you have prepared everything you need, choose a sunny day and get down to business. Tune in advance what the leaves are with different cultures fly around in different time, moreover, gradually, so a single cleaning will not work. It is impossible to postpone cleaning in the garden until all the trees and bushes are covered, if only because the snow may fall before this happens, and your site will remain uncleaned.

1. Use a traditional rake to gather the leaves under the trees and rake them into heaps.
2. Clean the area under the bushes with a fan rake.
3. You will have to remove fallen leaves from the lawns several times, and it is advisable to use a fan rake for this - they do not injure the grass so much and collect the litter more carefully.
4. Remove leaves from gutters, roof slopes, plums.
5. Fold the leaves collected in heaps into bags or use a wheelbarrow to bring them to a spread sheet of spunbond.
6. Carry the leaves to a fire, compost heap, or take them out into the woods.

Fallen autumn leaves appear now in one corner of the garden, then in another. I really don’t feel like running from apple trees to cherries for 2-3 months, and then to mock orange, and every gardener has ever thought about whether to clean the leaves in the fall in the country or to entrust everything to nature.

If you have not yet decided on the answer to this question, let's see what happens in the garden with foliage during the autumn-winter period and whether you need these processes.

What happens to fallen leaves in the garden

If you think that it’s not too late to remove the foliage in the spring, and in the cold period it will lie quietly under the trees and become an additional mulch, then you make 5 mistakes at once:

• Foliage is a poor material for mulch, because, when wet, the leaves become caked and turn into a dense thin layer that does not allow air to pass to the roots and does not allow the earth to evaporate moisture, that is, foliage left without additional shelter contributes to the plants aging.
• On fallen leaves, harmful insects most often lay their eggs, and their larvae also pupate. With the onset of spring, at the first rays of the sun, the pests will wake up from sleep, and they will not even have to go far for prey - the native tree or bush is already here, you can begin to grow and reproduce.
• In addition, the leaves are often affected by fungal diseases - powdery mildew, anthracnose, gray rot, late blight. The spores of their pathogens overwinter well and, once in the soil, disperse even more actively in your garden in the new season.
• Bacterial diseases are less common in the garden, but their probability cannot be ruled out. Rotting leaves are an excellent breeding ground for bacteria, and winter sunburn on trees becomes a weak point through which bacteria enter a favorable environment and begin to destroy plants.
• The leaves that have fallen on the lawn rot during the winter, but not alone, but along with a section of the lawn on which bald spots appear in the spring. The affected area will not be able to recover on its own, and you will have to first remove the dead grass, and then sow a new one.

Where to remove leaves from the garden and vegetable garden

Supporters of eco-farming adhere to the version that it is either not necessary to remove foliage from under apple trees, pears and other fruit trees at all, or it is necessary to compost heaps. We will reject the first version immediately for the reasons already listed, but we will consider the second in more detail.

So, composting fallen leaves can be considered reasonable only on the condition that your garden has absolutely healthy trees, and you have carried out all seasonal insecticide treatments in a timely manner. Are you sure that along with the foliage you are not putting spores of fungal diseases, insect eggs, or harmful bacteria into the compost heap? Then feel free to layer the foliage with earth or manure and leave it - in two years you will receive excellent fertilizer.

But if you are not sure about the health of your own garden, then you should not aggravate the situation and it is better to take all the collected leaves outside the site and burn them.

If there is a forest area near your dacha, you can take the collected foliage there, but remember that this only applies to foliage - it is strictly forbidden to do this with garbage or household waste.

How to remove leaves from trees

Even for such a simple, at first glance, business as cleaning up fallen leaves, certain skills and special tools are needed.

You will need:

• traditional rake;
• fan rake;
• wheelbarrow;
• garbage bags with a volume of 100 liters or more or a spunbond sheet measuring 3 × 3 m;
• gardening gloves.

After you have prepared everything you need, choose a sunny day and get down to business. Tune in in advance that leaves from different crops fly around at different times, moreover, gradually, so a single cleaning will not work. It is impossible to postpone cleaning in the garden until all the trees and bushes are covered, if only because the snow may fall before this happens, and your site will remain uncleaned.

1. Use a traditional rake to gather the leaves under the trees and rake them into heaps.
2. Clean the area under the bushes with a fan rake.
3. You will have to remove fallen leaves from the lawns several times, and it is advisable to use a fan rake for this - they do not injure the grass so much and collect the litter more carefully.
4. Remove leaves from gutters, roof slopes, plums.
5. Fold the leaves collected in heaps into bags or use a wheelbarrow to bring them to a spread sheet of spunbond.
6. Carry the leaves to a fire, compost heap, or take them out into the woods.

If your site is well protected from the wind and leaves fall late, you can speed up this process after the first frost. Put a fabric mitten on your hand and smoothly run your hand along the branches from the bottom up, grabbing them lightly. Most of the leaves will crumble under your hands, and those that remain can be removed in a similar way in a week or two, or left on the tree.

Of course, it is up to you to decide whether to remove the foliage from the garden in the fall. But believe me experienced gardeners Don't waste your November weekend on this. Timely cleaning of litter allows you to minimize diseases in the garden, get rid of a solid part harmful insects, and start the spring with more pleasant work.

Leaves falling from trees in autumn are not garbage. Decaying in the soil, they add mineral and organic matter accumulated over the summer. Slowly decomposing parts of the leaf (veins, cuttings) structure the soil, improving its quality. The gradual destruction of fallen leaves creates conditions for the development of soil microflora and fauna, which, on the one hand, performs the work of processing leaves, on the other hand, prevents the development of pathogenic organisms for trees (fungal, bacterial diseases trees). City trees are very susceptible various diseases. Rarely seen healthy tree and how hard it is to grow young tree! Only a few of the seedlings take root in the urban environment and reach the "adult" age. One of the main reasons for this is the quality of urban soils. In the forest, no one prepares the soil - nature makes it herself from the material received annually - fallen leaves. The forest floor is a factory for the production of forest soil, which nourishes the trees and preserves their health.

Harmful qualities of fallen leaves.

Why do we remove leaves in the city, depriving our city trees of this very “living litter”, their natural feeding and protection? Leaf harvesting has long been a symbol of autumn in the city. This is labor-intensive work that garden and park services, janitors, and city residents have been doing every year for decades. For what? Firstly, this stems from the rules for the operation of green spaces, and gardening specialists insist on carrying out this type of work. They have strong arguments.

The first group of arguments is the health of green spaces.

The fact is that the urban environment with an ever-increasing technogenic load is a polluted environment. Urban green spaces receive a range of pollutants from the air, which infiltrate leaves and from polluted soils and waters.

Motor transport, the number of which is rapidly increasing, regularly supplies urban soils with oil products and heavy metals. Due to the frequent malfunctioning of collection systems surface water, pollutants from highways enter the sites open ground- that is, on soils with green plantings.

Most of the ground surface in the city is asphalted, which means that the toxic substance benzopyrene released by asphalt also accumulates in the soils of green spaces.

Salt, with which the city is generously covered in winter time, also enters the ground.

What will be the spring leaves that have lain on the lawns for the winter? A crust pressed under the snow, touching which with bare hands can cause skin burns! Leaving such litter and allowing it to be incorporated further into the soil is more of a harm than a benefit to the plants. It is well known that heavy metals and many other pollutants in themselves greatly shorten the life of trees and shrubs, as well as cause a weakening of resistance to diseases and pests.

The second group of arguments is sanitary and hygienic.

In most cases, fallen leaves very quickly become a mixture of leaves and various household garbage, which many citizens throw under trees and shrubs (urns in the city are not something that are not enough - they rare view!). Such is the inevitable fate of green spaces, especially actively exploited. half-eaten shawarma, plastic bags, dog excrement - all this actively accumulates during the winter, mixing with foliage and creating a favorable habitat for rats and the dangerous infections they carry. In places with a large accumulation of leaves, citizens often bury the corpses of domestic animals, construction debris is sometimes added there and much more that people do not know what to do with. It comes to shocking criminal finds ...

The third group of arguments is lawn conservation.

Full-fledged lawns in the city are necessary both from an aesthetic and environmental point of view. Roots lawn grasses, densely intertwined with each other, hold the ground together, preventing contaminated soil from turning into toxic dust that the wind blows in the face of pedestrians. Lawn grasses themselves are able to live on polluted soil and cleanse it by sucking pollutants out of the soil and accumulating them in their green parts. When mowing, these toxic substances accumulated in the leaves are “packed” and ready for disposal, and the lawn continues to grow and again perform the work of a living filter. True, this applies specifically to the lawn, that is, a well-groomed lawn, consisting of special lawn grasses, regularly groomed in compliance with technology, and not a place that we call "lawn", while it is inhabited by weeds. This is not a lawn, but a place for a lawn! The creation and maintenance of a real city lawn is a laborious and costly business, and most importantly, it requires a professional approach. The lawn has strict requirements for who keeps it, and one of mandatory conditions- The lawn should be cleared of fallen leaves in the fall. The lawn, on which the foliage was left for the winter, rots and loses a lot in quality. Professional gardeners say that the tree and the lawn are always in conflict. What does it mean? For example, a tree needs nutrients from its own leaves, but a lawn is sustainable when it is clean and regularly mowed. They are inhabitants of different ecosystems. Most of the tree species used in the parks are originally forest dwellers, and for them, native and familiar will always be ideal - forest soil, created year over the year from fallen leaves by numerous microorganisms and animals, bacterial and other processes. And the lawn? Where do we see it in nature? For example, the English hills, sheared and fertilized by flocks of sheep for many centuries, are a sustainable lawn.

In an urban environment, we need both trees and lawns. Very often we have them on the same plot of land and are forced to resolve their conflict, undoubtedly, while lowering the comfort of the environment for both.

What to do with the fallen leaves of urban trees?

There is no single answer to this question, and there cannot be. It is necessary to approach the cleaning of leaves selectively, that is, to solve the issue for each object of green spaces separately, taking into account all its features.

In the system of landscape gardening, all objects are divided into classes and categories depending on their purpose and placement in urban areas. In St. Petersburg, 5 classes of objects are distinguished, to which different requirements content and intensity of care. The highest expenditure rates are set for the maintenance of class I facilities (urban green spaces, the most responsible in terms of location and value, the most visited city parks, gardens, squares, areas near public and historical buildings and structures, the most important street highways). Class II - these are objects of regional designation: parks, gardens, squares, boulevards, streets, roads and driveways. III class includes green spaces local importance: gardens, boulevards, squares, streets and passages, intra-quarter gardening and gardens of microdistricts. Class IV includes landscape and historical parks, landscaping objects of various departments, schools, hospitals, preschool institutions. Class V includes forest parks and forests within the city limits.

The rules for harvesting fallen leaves, as well as other maintenance standards, are established depending on which class of green spaces the object belongs to. Fallen leaves are intended to be left only in forest parks, urban forests and partly in landscape and historical parks. With regard to the issue of leaf harvesting, the classification of green spaces provides for the right measures, but, of course, misses cases where individual approach. Decision-making lies with the owners of territories and operating organizations (more often SPH and landscape gardening services), which can automatically use the rules and regulations established for the object class, but can also make proposals for the use of other approaches to maintaining green spaces.

In most urban green spaces, the foliage is cleared annually. How can this rule be explained, when is it fair, and where is it necessary to be selective in leaf harvesting? Let's look at this issue in relation to each of the classes of green spaces.

I class. The urban green spaces most responsible for location and value are the main places of the city, and they should have lawns of high aesthetic value. Autumn cleaning of leaves on them is required.

The most visited urban parks is a more complex issue. It is difficult to compare, for example, Alexandrovsky Park near the Gorkovskaya metro station and the Beloselsky-Belozersky park on the Krestovsky Islands. One conclusion can be drawn - parks should be dealt with individually. Large parks often have more visited parts (front and entrance parts, areas with a high recreational load), where it is necessary to have well-groomed lawns and carry out autumn cleaning of foliage. They also have less visited areas where there is no lawn cover under the trees, often with patches of forest flora. Leaving leaves under the trees in such areas gives only favorable results - improved tree health, soil quality, bird settlement and squirrels. In small intensively visited parks located close to residential areas, metro stations, and other intensively visited objects, it is necessary to clean the leaves for sanitary reasons, even if they do not have landscaped lawns.

The cleaning of leaves in gardens and squares of urban importance is inevitable - most often they have a well-groomed lawn that needs cleaning. In addition, the attendance of such facilities is high, which creates the need for regular cleaning of the territory only because of the garbage left by people. Other objects I class- the green parts of the most important city streets and avenues also require the removal of fallen leaves, since the quality of the lawn on them is important both from an aesthetic and environmental point of view.

II class. Parks, gardens and public gardens of district purposes differ greatly from each other in terms of load and its distribution within the facility. Here we apply an individual approach. In areas not adjacent to highways and places intensively visited by people, in "quiet" zones, used mainly for walking and recreation of people (with a small number of dogs), the foliage left on under the trees will be more useful than harmful. Often in such places, lawns are not of high value and it is quite possible to donate them. appearance in favor of the trees. Boulevards, green spaces of streets and driveways of district significance, having a lawn cover, should be removed from foliage for aesthetic and environmental reasons.

III class. The same approach applies to gardens, squares and street gardening as to similar objects of class II. When maintaining areas of intra-quarter landscaping, gardens and squares of local importance, a selective approach to dividing areas into harvestable and non-removable from leaves has great importance. Based on aesthetic, environmental, sanitary and operational features objects and, especially, their different parts, you can select areas where you do not need to remove the leaves. Careful consideration of this issue will help to improve the health of green spaces and obtain cost savings that are traditionally not enough for the maintenance of green spaces.

IV class. Objects of this class are very heterogeneous in their purpose. Landscape and historical parks may have zones with natural soil formation, that is, without autumn foliage cleaning, the choice of such zones is entirely determined by the characteristics of such parks and their parts. The same applies to green spaces on the territory of departments. Often such territories allow zoning and separating “front” (removed) and “natural” (without foliage cleaning) plots. A completely different approach is needed to such facilities as the green areas of hospitals and childcare facilities. Here, considerations of cleanliness and sanitary safety come to the fore. Leaves must be removed without fail.

V class. In forest parks and urban forests, the norms do not provide for the cleaning of fallen leaves and are traditionally not carried out. There is no lawn as such in them, there is a natural herbage. An exception may be small territories around commercial facilities where a large amount of garbage remains - where leaf removal is associated with garbage collection, also for environmental reasons, it would be useful to clean and dispose of leaves directly near major highways. However, these works are not provided for in the rules for maintaining green spaces of this class.

What requirements can residents make regarding leaf harvesting.

The decision to carry out the cleaning of leaves at the facility is made by the specialists of the operating organization or service, and their decisions are difficult to challenge. It is difficult for citizens to independently understand whether it is necessary to remove leaves in one place or another, and it is difficult to assess how correctly this issue is being resolved. But some points can be understood without being a specialist.

First of all, this is the disposal of the collected foliage. It should not remain in the territory, collected in heaps - this is contrary to sanitary standards and rules for the operation of green spaces. Moreover, the leaves should not be burned - this is dangerous from an environmental point of view, since all the accumulated toxic substances enter the air. Burning of garbage, including leaves, is prohibited within the city. The removal of the collected leaves must be provided by the operating organization and the owner.

In addition to disposal, residents may insist on clearing leaves from lawns where it is required by facility maintenance regulations. You can object to the cleaning of leaves in forest parks and urban forests, where, according to the standards of maintenance, these activities are not supposed to be carried out.

Who should clean up the leaves.

Each object of green spaces in the city has an owner who is obliged to hire an operating organization that, in accordance with the city requirements for the maintenance of an object of the corresponding class, develops and implements activities for the maintenance of green spaces. For objects of urban importance, the owner may be the city represented by the Committee for Construction and Improvement, for district green spaces - the Department of Improvement and Construction of the District Administration, for objects of local importance - employees responsible for improvement municipalities. The organization - the owner of the territory - is responsible for the state of departmental green spaces. Most often, the organization hired for operation is a garden and park economy, more precisely, the state unitary enterprise "landscape economy of the Nth district", or ZhES (housing and maintenance service), but there may also be commercial firms specialized in landscaping. City parks usually have their own staff to maintain the area. All other owners of territories with green spaces are required to have agreements with operating organizations and comply with city requirements for the maintenance of the facility. Control over the implementation of operational requirements is carried out by district or city improvement services, and the owner of the territory is responsible. The comfort of our living in the metropolis depends on how correctly decisions are made by specific responsible persons.

Why do people need to know this?

All citizens want the city - our habitat - to be healthier. However, it only gets more and more polluted every year. Our supporters in the fight for a healthy environment are green spaces, and their condition and functioning affects the health of citizens. How I would like to help the trees that give us oxygen, to increase their stability! I would like to help lawns as well – these hard workers who filter polluted soils and delight us with their bright green appearance.

It must be said that these are not the only types of green spaces that live in the city and work to improve the urban environmental situation. Shrubs, swamps, perennial and annual grasses - they all have both aesthetic and ecological functions. Not without reason in the cities of Europe for a long time and seriously engaged in environmental issues in the arrangement and maintenance of green spaces, the most different plants to improve the urban environment and solve environmental issues. We still have to do this, since the harmonious development of the metropolis is impossible without the effective use of green spaces. A small question - cleaning the leaves on the lawns - shows how much the city authorities and services, and, of course, the citizens, have to do. It is useful to recall the good old Soviet developments, and adopt Foreign experience, and develop their own new technologies, and ensure that specialists work in responsible positions, and not "convenient" people. It is the participation of residents in issues of improvement that can help the emergence and implementation of new, modern approaches to the maintenance of green spaces. For example, such as an individual approach to cleaning foliage on objects.

Despite the fact that it is customary in Moscow to regularly rake fallen leaves on the lawns, 38% of those who voted on the Active Citizen voted that it would be more correct to leave the leaves. Otherwise, the soil is deprived of rotted leaves, that is, food. The arguments for collecting leaves are usually as follows: dust accumulates in them, and the grass that has fallen down with leaves cannot germinate. The Village asked an expert from the World Fund wildlife Russia, who is right in this dispute.

It is interesting how the lawn survives in the countries of decaying Europe, where it is not customary to remove the leaves from the word at all.

Odious macroblogger (@darriuss_r) October 23, 2017

I remind you that cleaning the leaves on the lawn is wrecking and ecocide.
The leaves are a thermal cushion for the roots, winter quarters for insects (which, in turn, are food for birds), food for trees. Cleaning leaves... https://t.co/v32cu2NtY2

Sasha Andreeva (@Stilett_1) October 15, 2018

We usually take out. But it would be better, of course, if the bags were torn and all the foliage fell back onto the lawn. They make lawns worse!

Masha (@arctic_lane) November 27, 2017

Nikolai Shmatkov

director of the forest program of the World Wildlife Fund of Russia

The question is ambiguous, to clean or not to clean - depends on the place. The places where leaves fall can roughly be divided into two broad categories. The first is courtyards, artificial lawns or park areas. And the second - more remote territories (also parks), where, as far as possible in urban and suburban conditions, the natural environment is preserved.

In the first case - in the yards, especially where an artificial turf is covered or a bright, even green is sown, it is right to collect the foliage. For two reasons: firstly, fallen leaves, as a rule, rot, rot and leave bald spots on lawns. If the work of the soil is broken and the lawn has already been laid, then the foliage does not belong there. The second reason is that the closer to highways and yards, where there are a lot of cars, the more foliage accumulates toxic substances and dust that settle on the leaves. In autumn and spring, when the foliage is dry, these substances can be released back into the air.

And in places where trees are more remote from people and vehicles, collecting foliage is an environmental crime. In this case, the natural processes in the soil are disturbed, it does not receive the nutrients necessary for trees and hundreds of species of small animals and insects that live in the leaf litter. This leads to further stronger degradation of plantings.

It is not difficult to understand where you can collect foliage and where not. If natural grass grows with bald spots, then this is not a seeded lawn and it is better to leave foliage - this is the hope that bald spots will disappear. And if bright, even, sown grass grows, you need to clean it up in order to preserve this color effect.

Concerning rolled lawn, then, if he has already wound up, he will have to remove foliage from him until the end of his life. Or bring him back to life by artificial means: sow or completely change. If you leave the foliage, it will degrade.

It seems to me that in the parks in Moscow they overdo it with the cleaning of leaves.

Every year, in late October - early November, gardeners have seasonal work- cleaning the garden from fallen leaves. But many gardeners are wondering: Is it worth it to remove the leaves at all ?, What to do with them? What to do with these huge piles of leaves - burn them, take them to the forest, store them in compost heaps, mulch beds and flower beds with them, or even bury them in the far corner of the site?

Adherents of classical garden cleaning advise to carefully clean the garden from fallen leaves, because, as fallen leaves are an excellent place for wintering numerous garden insect pests that successfully winter in a warm, secluded place, and also, fallen leaves are a breeding ground for many pathogens and fungi, especially if your trees were affected by various diseases during the season.

They suggest putting leaf litter in a compost heap, where the leaf litter cakes and rots well, turning into a great fertilizer for your yard.

Here in Kyiv, for example, on Obolon, janitors rake fallen leaves into heaps, which are then taken out to special compost pits. They rot there and later serve as compost for flower beds and flower beds. After all, Kyiv is famous in the world for its parks and squares.

Supporters organic farming do not agree that the garden needs cleaning in autumn. They are of the opinion that fallen leaves protect the roots of trees from cold weather and, when decomposed, improve the structure of the soil and its composition.

Let me give you an example, in 2010 the Moscow government developed a whole concept for improving the structure of the soil in parks and squares, based on the opinion of environmentalists that the leaves, decomposing in the soil, fertilize the roots of trees nutrients. This will prevent various tree diseases in gardens and squares and prolong the life of green plantings.

Fallen leaves are not only an excellent fertilizer, but also serve as an excellent food for earthworms and beneficial microorganisms, which improve soil structure with their activities.

In autumn, fallen leaves can also be used to cover flowerbeds and beds where cultivation was carried out. winter sowing or landings. You can also mulch beds and flower beds with fallen leaves, digging them a little into the soil.

Based on the foregoing, I conclude that the issue of fallen leaves in the garden should be decided at the personal discretion of the gardener. If the gardener is not prevented from walking around the site by rustling leaves underfoot, why not. On my own suburban area I carefully clean the lawn from leaves, but sometimes I leave it on the beds until spring. This will not hurt, especially if you cover strawberries and strawberries with them.

The real owner (hostess) always has order on the site and nothing will be lost, and the garden receives necessary support in the form of high-quality compost, regular watering, imported land and top dressing (fertilizers).

My wife is cleaning the lawn

Despite this, there are several important points Every gardener should know:

Do not leave carrion (rotten fruits with fruit trees) under fruit trees and bushes. It is better to immediately dispose of the carrion in a compost heap, you can take it out of the site or bury it in the far corner of the site;

If your garden has suffered from various diseases this season, scab, coccomycosis or powdery mildew, for example, then the fallen leaves must be removed. Since many pathogens are stored in fallen leaves. Therefore, it is advisable to either take the fallen leaves from diseased trees outside the site or burn them, but in no case should they be put in a compost heap. Someone may object to me that in the process of decay, pathogens will successfully die in a few years, but I think that this is not worth doing - it is better to burn;

The lawn must be cleared of fallen leaves. In winter, under a layer of snow, uncleaned leaves from the lawn turn into a compress, which in turn harms the quality of the lawn. Under such a compress, the grass rots. In the spring after overwintering on the lawn appear yellow spots. Therefore, in the fall, the lawn must be cleaned of fallen leaves, as well as aeration and scarification.

That's all! Wish you, pleasant hassle garden and lawn care.