As we drive through Springfield, we are still seeing many yards with a substantial amount of leaves still on the ground. Not only is this an eye sore for your home, but leaving the leaves over winter is hurting your lawn. In this blog we will discuss several reasons you need to get out and pick up those leaves, or hire an experienced company to do it for you.
One of the main reasons people remove all the leaves from their yard is simply because the yard looks much better after being cleaned up. 
Chances are if you are not cleaning up the leaves, those twigs and branches that came down with them are not being cleaned up either. Many of times within neighborhoods, the home owners have a sense of pride in keeping their neighborhood looking nice as a whole. One could understand why neighbors might not be so happy if they have taken their own time or money to make sure their yards are free of leaves, but the neighbors next door have left all their leaves on the ground. In doing so, they are not only creating an eye sore, but also allowing all those leaves to blow into the neighbors clean yard. Don’t be that neighbor!
If you know much about establishing a new lawn or getting new grass to grow in your lawn, then you know that Fall is the perfect time for doing so. This is due to a variety of reasons which will be outlined at another time. With that in mind, many people have invested time and money into aerating, de-thatching, slicing, and seeding to get their yards ready for next spring. To let the leaves sit on the ground all Fall and Winter after having all this work done could prevent most of that work from translating into the results you would expect in the spring. This is because those leaves block all the sunlight the grass seed needs to grow. No sunlight means, no photosynthesis, and no photosynthesis means no energy for the plants to grow and establish a root system to get through the winter.
As Fall turns into Winter, we see periods of rain and snow. One thing that happens with all this precipitation is the ground beneath the leaves tends to stay wet for a much longer period of time than areas where there are no leaves. Think about those kiddie pools that sometimes
get turned upside down in the yard. What happens when you finally turn that kiddie pool back over? All the grass under is dead and the smell is horrible right? This is because no air has been able to circulate and has allowed mold and fungus to thrive. Wet and soggy leaves will have a similar affect on your lawn. The leaves don’t allow air to circulate which allows fungus to develop. This causes dead spots in the lawn and in some cases, these fungi spread and damage larger portions of the lawn. One of the most common places you can find mold and fungus in a house is under the house. This is because the area can stay damp, has little air circulation, and is dark, which is a perfect scenario for mold and fungus to grow. Again, by leaving leaves on the ground, you have created a very similar atmosphere.
Hopefully by now, one can see that leaving those leaves on the ground is not a wise decision. It looks bad, prevents new grass seed from growing, kills established grass, and exposes the yard to disease. However, there are many ways you can beat these problems. One way is to put mulching blades on your mower and mow over all of the leafs until they are mulched into very small pieces. Another way to remove the leaves is to blow or rake them onto a large tarp and move them to a composting area. If you are not interested in getting out in the yard to do this, we completely understand. This is where you give us a call or Request a Free Estimate and we will send one of our professionals to give you a quote and schedule your leaf removal. We thank you for your time and look forward to hearing from you.
