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Writer's pictureEd Elam

What To Do With Your Leaves This Year

It is often said that owning a home can be a part time job in and of itself, and each fall and winter, that proves to be especially true. As the leaves on the trees around you turn beautiful shades of gold and orange as the seasons change, it can be a fantastic sight to behold, but with that beauty comes great responsibility. You are on the hook for disposing of all of the leaves that fall on your property, regardless of whether or not you own the tree from which they came. Raking them up is one thing, but what do you do with all of those leaves once you have gathered them in a giant pile or two? Well, that’s exactly what we’re going to talk about today in this article. If you have any suggestions or experiences of your own with this annual issue, then please let me know on social media or in the comments below. 


Compost Them

If you don’t already have an active compost pile, then now is a great time to start one! You can use your raked up leaves as a fantastic base for your new compost area. Make sure to also add important compost components like kitchen scraps, grass clippings, and eggshells to help get the decomposition process really rolling. Spread the newly formed compost out on your garden next spring!


Create A “Leaf Mold Patch”

This sounds similar to composting, but it is a little bit simpler if you don’t want to tackle the whole “active compost pile” thing, which definitely has some additional upkeep. To create a leaf mold patch, you will simply have to pile up the leaves in a corner of the yard or preferably garden and then spray them down with your hose for a few minutes. This will help keep them from blowing away and will also help get the molding process started. Regularly walk or stomp on the pile to ensure that it is all getting broken down evenly and you can take a shovel to it and mix it up a few times between fall and spring. Once you are ready to plant next year’s garden, you can add this to your topsoil to help bring much-needed nutrients to your seedlings.


Protect Fragile Plants From Cold

You can also use your excess leaves as a makeshift warming blanket for some of your more vulnerable plants to help protect them from the cold. To do so, you will simply need to pile up some of your dry leaves around the base of your vulnerable plants (like roses) that will help to insulate the roots from the harsh cold snaps at night. 


City Collection

For Boise, you can actually put your leaves out with your regular trash any time of year! Set up to 10 leaf-filled paper bags out on your curb at a time and they will be collected each week. A maximum of 10 per week will be collected from each residence. 


In Conclusion

We hope that today’s leaf disposal guide was useful to you. Remember, no matter the time of year, there is always something fun to do around Boise and Meridian. I am happy to help with any questions about home and garden, buying, selling, real estate, and beyond! Give me a call today, I’d love to hear from you.


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