Yeremya

A few days ago I said leave the stems up. Same hand, same argument, and this is the other half of it.

In October the bags come out. Bags of leaves at the curb, hauled off like trash.

But leaf litter is not trash. It is where next summer sleeps. Firefly larvae overwinter down in the damp layer of it. Queen bumblebees bed down in loose leaves and soil at the base of a hedge. Luna moth cocoons lie in it. Rake all of that away and you evict the ones that pollinate your beans and light up your July.

What to do instead. Rake them under the shrubs and trees, two or three inches, and let them be free mulch. If you want them off the lawn, mow a thin layer over it so it sifts down. Keep them off the crowns of small perennials so nothing smothers, and leave one leaf pile in a corner all winter. Do not send them away in plastic.

The stems feed the winter birds. The leaves carry the summer. Both are already paid for. All you have to do is not throw them out.