Rake or not rake: Should New Jersey homeowners leave the leaves this fall?

I have a lot of trees in my back yard and when I looked out the window yesterday, I noticed my lawn was completely covered with leaves! It happened overnight.

It went from beautiful fall foliage, to not one leaf on any of the trees.

I was exhausted just thinking about how much work it’s going to be to rake and bag them this weekend.

Every year it’s the same conversation. Should we just leave them alone, mow over them, or rake them all up?!

Last year, we tackled the massive project and our lawn looked great, but it was a lot of work!

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Rake or leave the leaves in NJ? ( Michele Pilenza , Townsquare Media)

To rake or not to rake?

I was just reading about all the benefits of not raking the leaves on your property and maybe that’s the way to go. Or maybe I’m just being lazy!

But either way, according to the National Wildlife Federation, leaving fallen leaves on the ground not only benefits wildlife, but it benefits your lawn and garden as well.

So here’s the deal. The leaves will eventually break down into leaf mulch, providing compost for your garden and suppressing weeds.

Rake or leave the leaves in NJ? ( Michele Pilenza , Townsquare Media)

The leaves also provide lots of nutrients for your lawn. While animals use the leaf layers as shelter.

They state that 30% of yard waste collected goes right to the landfill, and many critters, like caterpillars, often get thrown away.

I will say driving by houses where the leaves have been raked and bagged, their lawn look neat and put together, but there are a lot of benefits to just leaving the leaves alone!