Don't Trash Those Leaves!

The fall season is a time of year when you may find yourself with more leaves than you know what to do with. Here are some helpful tips for dealing with a blizzard of leaves!

Compost

If you already compost, you will know how important it is to gather leaves in the fall. If you have been thinking about starting composting, now is a perfect time. Saving your leaves is a great way to begin. Leaves are what we call “browns” and they are not only an essential part of making compost, but you need them to cover up all the vegetable scraps and other “green” materials that you are adding to your compost pile. Here are some tips for storing and using your browns:

• You don’t want to throw all your leaves in your compost bin in the fall or you’ll fill up your bin and have no place to put other organics throughout the winter
• You can compost all winter (yes, even in Manitoba) and you don’t need to cover the greens because they will freeze anyway. You will want to save lots of browns for spring and summer when you really do need them.
• You can store your leaves in bags or just heap them up in a pile. If you have more than one compost bin, harvest your finished compost in the fall and then use the empty bin to store your leaves.
• Don’t underestimate the amount of leaves that you will need. It’s more than you think. Remember that you need 2 to 3 times the volume of browns for covering those greens.
  

Reduce Their Volume

If you want to reduce the volume of leaves or reduce the amount of storage space you need for storage, consider grinding them up! You don’t need a special piece of equipment or expensive grinder — you can simply use your lawnmower. Most lawnmowers these days are “multimode” and have a mulching function that you can use to chop up the leaves and reduce the volume significantly. Estimates of how much volume is reduced vary but our experience would estimate 5 to 10 times less volume depending on how fine you chop them.

Mulching

You can also use leaves as an excellent mulch around shrubs and trees. It’s a great way to add nutrients to the soil while helping to retain moisture and suppress weed growth. Leaves are readily available and free, and they break down on their own — all of which makes using leaves for mulch a low-effort solution.

Give Them Away!

There are many community organizations and gardens throughout the city that are composting and would be happy to take your leaves. You may even have a neighbour who is an avid gardener and needs extra leaves for their compost.

Yard Waste Pickup & Depots

If you still have too many leaves, take advantage of your municipality’s curbside yard waste collection program or 4R drop-off depots.

Leaves Should NOT Be Trashed

Leaves are a great resource. Take advantage of them and please do your part to help make your community clean and green!