Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of iHeart Radio. Hey brain Stuff,
Speaker 1: Lauren bog Obam Here. To a lot of folks, some
Speaker 1: of the best fall memories include raking and jumping in
Speaker 1: huge piles of leaves before squeezing them into bags and
Speaker 1: placing them by the curb to be hauled off to
Speaker 1: the landfill. Some folks are old enough to remember when
Speaker 1: burning leaves was standard practice. These days, however, neither is
Speaker 1: looked upon with approving eyes. Raking, bagging, and hauling leaves
Speaker 1: away might make your yard look like a show place,
Speaker 1: but it's no longer considered environmentally friendly. Why Well, like
Speaker 1: we said, those lawn refuse bags go to the landfill,
Speaker 1: and according to the US Environmental Protection Agency, in yard
Speaker 1: trimmings accounted for thirty four point seven million tons of
Speaker 1: municipal solid waste. The majority of that one point three
Speaker 1: million tons was recovered and composted or mulched in state programs,
Speaker 1: but ten point eight million tons still went to the landfill.
Speaker 1: That's more than eight percent of total waste generated. However,
Speaker 1: if you have a lawn that you want to maintain,
Speaker 1: getting rid of the fallen leaves is essential, because not
Speaker 1: only will wet leaves smothering kill the grass. They can
Speaker 1: also prevent new growth from taking hold come springtime. So
Speaker 1: what are you to do rather than raking and bagging?
Speaker 1: The University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension Service suggests mowing
Speaker 1: the leaves with a multure instead. A multure is a
Speaker 1: machine similar to a lawnmower and that it cuts grass
Speaker 1: as you pushed along, except it has specialized blades that
Speaker 1: keep chopping the clippings into very fine pieces. By mulching
Speaker 1: dry leaves, which essentially shreds them into dime sized pieces,
Speaker 1: you've created free food for your yard. The tiny pieces
Speaker 1: of shredded leaves will filter down between the blades of
Speaker 1: grass and add vital nutrients like nitrogen back to the soil.
Speaker 1: The ideal time to mulch the leaves is when you
Speaker 1: can see the blades of grass start poking through the
Speaker 1: blanket of leaves. That may mean weakly mulchings depending on
Speaker 1: the size of your yard and the number of trees.
Speaker 1: You don't want to completely cover your lawn with a
Speaker 1: thick layer of mulch, though, so if the leaves get
Speaker 1: too heavy, rake the extra ones in a pile and
Speaker 1: then spread them around your trees or shrubs. In addition
Speaker 1: to adding back nutrients, mulching your garden has other benefits.
Speaker 1: It helps keep weeds at bay, holds moisture in the soil,
Speaker 1: and helps moderate soil temperatures. Your lawn, trees, shrubs, and
Speaker 1: the environment will thank you for mulching instead of raking
Speaker 1: the leaves. Some cities and municipalities have stopped picking up
Speaker 1: bagged yard clippings altogether, including leaves, because of the cost
Speaker 1: and environmental concerns. Rather than continuing to raise taxes for
Speaker 1: garbage pickup, they've offered mulching workshops and called on homeowners
Speaker 1: to invest money into multures or mulching blades for lawnmowers
Speaker 1: so that they can beautify their yards with homegrown mulch
Speaker 1: like yard confetti. Today's episode was written by Patty Rasmussen
Speaker 1: and produced by Tyler Clang. Brain Stuff is production of
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Speaker 1: lots of other nutrient rich topics, visit our home planet
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