Raking Those Autumn Leaves: Pros and Cons

As a gardener, you may well know that applying pressure to your lawn during the winter months can severely damage it. This is down to 2 key factors:

When grass gets pulled out of the lawn for a variety of reasons, it does not grow back until spring.

Colder weather conditions play a big part in the health of your lawn. Cold, dry winds can dehydrate the grass and severely cold weather can freeze it.

So, in the autumn, when leaves start to fall from the trees, it’s time to get that old rake out of the shed.

However, it can be slightly worrying that you might damage your beautifully kept lawn which you spent all summer working hard on.

Here are the pros and cons to raking in those pesky autumn leaves.

Pros:

1. Fungus and insects love dead leaves! Unfortunately your lawn does not, so raking will prevent these pests from infesting the grass.
2. Getting rid of leaves will expose your lawn to the air, water and nutrients that it needs to flourish.
3. It generally looks tidier, and everyone loves jumping in a pile of leaves, don’t they?

Cons:

1. Raking can cause damage to your grass. If you rake too hard, you run the risk of pulling grass roots out, which won’t grow back until next spring. Make sure you rake as lightly as possible to prevent this.
2. Throwing away leaves rather than letting them naturally decompose can be detrimental to the environment. This is because they often get sent to landfill sites.

To learn more about how Eco recycle garden waste, click here.