Many of us want to have the best-looking yards in the neighborhood but that may come at a cost. Yard “waste” provides incredibly important nutrients for the soil and contains many egg masses for vital pollinators such as butterflies, moths, and native bees. Here’s what you can do instead of throwing out your leaves.
- Create a compost pile in the back corner of your yard. Throw some sticks on top of the leaves to help them from blowing about.
- Move leaves to your gardens, flowerbeds, or to a section that will be “natural.” This will provide good organic matter for your vegetables to grow.
- Mulch the leaves with a mower instead of throwing them out. This will at least provide good nutrients for the soil but may destroy the egg masses.
- Wait until it’s consistently about 50 degrees to throw away any yard waste. This way, many pollinators can hatch instead of going to a landfill.
- Add pollinator habitat in your yard through seeding with native plants such as Butterfly milkweed, New England aster, and Black-eyed Susan.
For more tips follow the city’s Natural Resources division on Facebook.