15 Clever Ways to Repurpose Autumn Leaves in Your Yard

Autumn leaves make a valuable soil amendment, but they have lots of other uses too.

Bagging fallen leaves in autumn and throwing them in the trash creates a lot of unnecessary waste, but it also channels energy away from your garden that could be used to make your plants grow better. Packed with carbon and other nutrients, chopped fall leaves make a valuable mulch and compost ingredient, but they can be used in other ways too. To inspire your fall cleanup , here are 15 easy ways to repurpose autumn leaves that will save you money, reduce waste, and make your garden that much greener .

1.  Add to compost.

The fastest way to get rid of lots of autumn leaves is to throw them in your compost pile . Leaves serve as a carbon source in composting, so they’ll need to be blended with plenty of green or nitrogen-rich materials, like grass clippings or kitchen scraps, to ensure they break down fast. Mulching or chopping leaves before composting speeds up the composting process too.

Related: The 9 Best Compost Bins of 2024, According to Research and Testing

2. Make mulch.

Why buy bagged mulch when you can make your own eco-friendly mulch with autumn leaves? Leaf mulch can be applied to vegetable gardens or ornamental beds and its dark, earthy color blends right into landscapes and looks appealing in container gardens as well. To avoid pooling water, always chop leaves with a mulcher or the mulching attachment on your lawnmower before applying them to your garden.

3. Leave them for pollinators.

Many pollinators spend the winter hibernating in old plant material and fallen leaves. But if all those leaves are raked away, it can remove natural sheltering spots and leave pollinators exposed to winter’s chill. If you want to make your garden more wildlife-friendly , wait until spring to clean the leaves out of your flower beds.

4. Craft a bug snug.

To make your garden even more appealing to bees, butterflies, and other pollinators, use autumn leaves and fallen sticks to craft your very own bug snug. These simple shelters provide winter habitat for hibernating insects and they can be easily made with old garden debris and a bit of twine. You can even craft bug snugs into fun shapes to add a bit of whimsy to your garden.

5. Insulate plants.

Some plants, like hydrangeas that bloom on old wood , may need to be wrapped with burlap to protect their tender buds from winter damage. But if you want to give these plants even more insulation, you can pack dry autumn leaves in between tender shrubs and their burlap wrapping. Install this leaf insulation after the ground freezes and remove it when temperatures warm in spring to ensure your plants leaf out well.

6. Build a hügelkultur garden.

If you're dreaming of expanding your garden or adding a new vegetable bed to your space, consider crafting your own hügelkultur garden with autumn leaves, fallen sticks, and other yard waste. When organic materials are piled together in a hügel mound, they break down into a rich growing substrate and provide a slow release of nutrients to plant roots. For an even easier option, layer autumn leaves, twigs, and compost on top of cardboard and build soil for a new garden using the lasagna gardening technique .

7. Fill in raised beds.

Buying soil can get pricey fast, especially if you need to fill up a raised garden bed . But you can save a lot of money by using yard waste, like fall leaves, to fill in the base of raised bed frames and reduce the amount of soil you’ll need to purchase. As the leaves break down, they’ll act as a slow-release fertilizer and help your new garden grow even better.

Related: The 5 Best Raised Garden Beds of 2024, According to Testing

8. Amend your soil.

Chopped autumn leaves can also be mixed directly into garden beds or planters to serve as a slow-release fertilizer. Just be sure to mulch leaves well before stirring them into your soil and don’t use too many leaves at once. A 1 inch layer of chopped leaves mixed into the top 6 to 8 inches of soil should help you avoid drainage issues and ensure the leaves become well-incorporated into your garden.

9. Shelter seeds.

Many native plant seeds sprout better with cold stratification , which can be accomplished by planting seeds outside in fall. While many gardeners sprinkle straw over seeds after planting, you can also apply a thin layer of chopped autumn leaves over your native seeds. This will protect the seeds from getting washed away during winter and help you achieve a better germination rate in spring.

10. Mow them in.

Leaving thick clumps of leaves on your grass through winter can cause grass to die back and leave you with a patchy lawn in spring. But leaves have a lot of nutrients and they can be transformed into a budget-friendly, natural lawn “fertilizer” if you mulch them. Simply chop the leaves finely with the mulching attachment on your lawnmower so they don’t mat down, and then leave the mulched leaves on your lawn to enrich your soil and make your grass grow better.

11. Burn them.

Waiting until spring to rake leaves out of your garden beds can benefit pollinators, but diseased and pest-ridden plants should always be destroyed at the end of the season to keep problems from reoccurring in spring. Diseased leaves should never be composted as pests can often survive the composting process. But you can burn most leaves in a cozy campfire and celebrate the end of the growing season with some homemade smores.

12. Use them in a root cellar.

Do you have a root cellar ? Many home preservers pack root cellar vegetables away in straw to keep produce from getting bruised or damaged in storage. But you can also pack your veggies up in dried autumn leaves to keep them fresh!

13. Create leaf mold.

Leaf mold and compost are made using a similar process; however, leaf mold is composed purely of leaves. Simply pile leaves up in a heap in an underutilized corner of your yard and allow the leaves to naturally degrade, or pile the leaves in a compost bin and turn them regularly to help them break down faster. Once the leaf mold is finished, you can mix it into your garden as a soil amendment or use it as a budget-friendly mulch.

14. Feed composting worms.

Composting worms will feed on most organic matter, including autumn leaves. If you keep a worm farm, mix a handful or two of old leaves into your worm bin along with some kitchen scraps and allow your composting worms to transform those leaves into garden-ready worm castings. Later on, you can brew those worm castings in water to make a liquid plant fertilizer , also known as “worm tea.”

15. Get crafty.

Of course, autumn leaves can also be used in lots of fall-themed DIY projects . While you may have your own clever ways to craft with leaves, here are a few easy ideas that you may want to try:

• Use fall leaves to accentuate vases at the center of your harvest table .
• String colorful leaves on twine to create an eco-friendly fall-themed garland .
• Create biodegradable confetti with leaves and a hole punch.
• Make botanical art with tracing paper, crayons, and leaves of different shapes.
• Preserve your favorite leaves by dipping them in beeswax.

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