My neighbor said mulch the leaves into the lawn instead of bagging them, and my yard is better for it now

Charles Owens · 2026-10-29T11:10:05.041658+00:00

Last fall my neighbor Dale, who's been gardening on our street in Columbus for close to 30 years, told me to stop raking my leaves to the curb and just run the mower over them a couple times. I thought he was nuts because I'd always bagged them, but he said the shreds break down over the winter and feed the soil. I tried it on my front yard only, so I could compare to the back. By April the front lawn was thicker and greener than the back, and I didn't buy a single bag of fertilizer all spring. I did have to go over it slow, two passes, or the mower bogged down in the wet leaves. Also the city stopped the yard waste pickup for a few weeks anyway, so bagging would've been a pain. Anyone else tried this, and do you run the mower more than twice on heavy leaf drop?

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My neighbor said mulch the leaves into the lawn instead of bagging them, and my yard is better for it now | Climate Action - Hub Chatter