AUGUST NEWSLETTER - Back to School & Leave the Leaves
Posted by Nathaniel Thomas on
Dear Friends,
Back to school is here! Check out our Healthy Kitchen collection for all your kids’ needs with Click N Go lunch bags, water bottles, Preserve recycled plastic food storage, and more!
MAKE FALL CLEANUP FUN & EASY
As summer starts to wind down and the kids head off to school again, we’re preparing for fall with a new Composting Guide that will be released in our next email.
Read on below for our Leave the Leaves tips for fall cleanup our guest blog from Denise Sandoval of Good Natured Landscapes!
Stay tuned for our big composter sale in September!
Our Sustainability Tips this month come from Denise Sandoval, landscape designer & owner of Good-Natured Landscapes. Check out her blog and services here!
LEAVE THE LEAVES - TOP 10
Mother Nature doesn’t rake up her leaves, why do we? A coworker at the former Natural Garden Nursery shared a funny story with me over 16 years ago. I don’t know who wrote it, but after reading it you’ll get a new perspective as to why some of our landscaping practices, such as raking away leaves, really don’t make any sense. You can read the full story here in my blog, or read on to get to the quick environmentally friendly tips!
Here are some suggestions to use your leaves instead of bagging, blowing or raking all of them to the curb for pick-up. This will not only save you time and money, but reduce noise and air pollution, improve your physical health, and most importantly, benefit wildlife and plants.
10) Throw leaves into your compost pile. Leaf mold (another name for composted leaves) makes wonderful mulch, vegetable garden amendment, and has several uses in organic lawn care. I use composted leaves instead of wood mulch in most of my landscaped gardens since it’s environmentally friendly, cost effective and mimics the way Mother Nature mulches.
9) Rake or leave most of your fallen leaves (and fallen twigs) around trees, shrubs and woodland perennials. This is the way nature mulches! If possible, do not chop most of your leaves to protect overwintering insects and other small animals which use the leaves for shelter, food or nesting material. Leaves also provide organic matter, moisture, and some weed control similar to mulch. Note: I do not rake leaves into my prairie garden because I do a prescribed burn each spring. Read more about my prescribed burn in Preparing for the arrival of the Red Buffalo.
8) Chop up a light layer of fall leaves on top of your lawn with a lawn mower several times and leave in place to enrich your lawn. Do not chop leaves in other areas as explained above.
7) Rake leaves around a grouping of potted native perennials or shrubs you didn’t get a chance to plant this year, to add an insulation layer over winter.
6) Use leaves to smother more areas of lawn for future wildlife gardens by piling leaves over layers of cardboard, or black and white newspaper and enclosing with chicken wire fencing to prevent leaves from blowing away. Some people use plastic tarps for smothering or solarization, but I’m hesitant about using too much plastic. Also, you may have to spot treat with herbicide some of the aggressive invasive plants which cannot be dug up or smothered, but please do so very carefully. Some methods may be more successful in different landscapes, so do what is best for you, remembering these words of wisdom “Do no harm.”
5) If you have to remove leaves, try raking your leaves instead of blowing them if you are physically able to or instead use an electric mower or blower (less noise and air pollution than gas powered equipment). Also, do not rake leaves into nearby waterways (rivers, lakes, streams, storm drains, drainage pipes, etc). The excess volume of decaying leaves can harm aquatic species. Tip: As I rake leaves away, I keep an eye out for wildlife and move them back into the garden if I spot something. It does take a little extra time, but it’s worth it to me to save a few. It’s amazing, but something that looks like a grub could be a firefly or butterfly larva if you take the time to I.D.
4) Have fun!!! Toss the leaves around, enjoy the sound of walking through the leaves, and jump into a pile!
3) Discuss with your kids why some leaves fall off some trees or change color with this article from the USDA - Why leaves Change color?
2) Wreath Craft Project: Collect leaves of all different shapes and colors, then after pressing them using the method above, glue them onto a 2′ diameter by 6 inch wide circular cardboard wreath cut from a rigid box. Make sure to cover the cardboard completely with leaves. Then hang the leaf wreath. Beautiful!
1) Placecard Craft Project: Press various types of leaves between 2 heavy books lined with paper towels for 2 weeks, and use the pressed leaves to create name cards or decorations for your Thanksgiving table. Use gold or silver permanent marker to write guests’ names on the pressed leaves. See picture above!
NEW Eco Passion Profile!
YOU COULD BE FEATURED HERE! Terra Haven is looking for artists and creative innovators who use their passion to help care for the Earth! Reply to this email if you are interested and want to find out more!
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