Leaves on grass- need to rake?

[Jenn]

Would folks weigh in on whether I jeopardize my bits of grass (pretty in spots and an important part of the erosion control in several areas) by not gathering up the leaves that are scattered fairly thinly over it? My thickest wooded area the pine needles and leaves are just adding to the duff and I won't disturb.

Anyone here not remove leaves at all? Results?

[beorning]

I mulch thin leaf cover into the grass with a mulching mower. Doesn't seem to hurt my lawn, which is as much clover, dandelions and other stuff as it is grass at all. I worry about bigger leaves blocking sunlight to short grass if left completely alone, which is why I even bother with the mower.

I'm guessing that too many leaves would affect soil ph and grass growth.

[rwinsouthla]

You really don't "need" to rake them but the grass gets off to a slower start in the spring if you don't. I bag mine up with the lawnmower and put them in the garden. You'll be surprised how much 2 acres of leaves can add as far as organic matter.

If you mulch them and let them fall between the grass blades, it may create a nitrogen demand on your lawn but shouldn't hurt unless you are really anal about having a super green lawn.

[hisenthlay]

We mow the leaves and leave them on the grass--I just did it last weekend, in fact--I wait until they're all down. I always heard that was good for the grass, unless you have a ton of leaves. Ours does fine that way. Oh, and I mow it on about the highest setting--not way down to the ground.

[mrglock27]

If you leave them on the ground and dont mow or rake you will have dead spots if the leaves stay in one spot for a month or two. The grass will come back, of course, if the leaves blow away or after you mow them up in the spring.

[dagwood]

Mulch the heck out of em with your lawnmower. You can get "mulching blades" for your mower and if you keep em sharp they will do an excellent job on making those leaves disappear. Your lawn will thank you for the extra nutrients too........

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

if they are very light i just mulch but if heavy i prop the gaurd on the side of the mower up ( very important NOT to have running if you value your fingers when you do this) i use a little block of wood to hold it open
this discharges every thing out and i can mow tall grass that other wise would stall the mower when in mulch mode and through all the leaves quite well

then i just mow in rectangles always discharging to the center and when i have a nice long pile of muched leaves i lay down a tarp with a length of conduit conected to the gromets on one edge(makes it much easier to lay out and rake leaves on by my self) and rake the pile on drag it over to the garden spread it out some and till under

in the spring i runn around the fence with the bagger and bag up all the remaining leaves and put them right on the potatoes makes for the easies to dig potatoes i have ever done when the plant starts to yellow just give a yank and up it comes with all the potatoes still attached

i left them on the lawn one year at my other house and they settled in to some low spots in th lawn and in the spring those areas were way behind the rest of the lawn

[Maura]

a couple of big maple trees that are healthy from tapping into the sewer line sure lay down a lot of leaves. I just mowed over them, propping open that guard. Dry leaves crumble into small bits very well, you don't want to do this with wet leaves.

[Ken Scharabok]

They are called 'leaves' because nature intended you to 'leave' them there.

My rationale anyway.

[insanity]

I like to leave some of them until just before spring. Usually when you mow them off, the grass will be green underneath.Because it was protected from the freezing weather and frost.
The leaves will also help stop the erosion during winter when the grass doesn't grow.

[beorning]

Something I found that makes mowing a bit easier... I set the front end of the mower a bit higher than the back. Solved the problem of pushing the bigger leaves around instead of chewing them up,

[vicker]

Yep, mow them in. Catch it on a good, dry day and even a heavy layer of leaves will turn to crumbles. Early in the spring, catch them on another dry day and mow once more. they'll disappear. Good stuff for lawn food also.