Homeowners typically face the urge to rake up their yards
during cold weather. They’re ”cleaning it up” they tell themselves.
However,
they’re also endangering their vegetation (everything from grass to trees) by
doing it now. Except in unusual spots,
let the leaf litter stay where it is. Only remove it if it piles up due to a building’s
shape, or where it hinders travel (such as a walkway).
You
see, this yearly accumulation of dead material is nature’s way of insulating the
things in the ground – primarily roots. Remove it and the fragile plant roots can
be damaged or killed by extreme cold (In
a forest, nobody ever rakes the leaves; and plants there do just fine; most
weeds are discouraged too).
Instead,
you could run a lawn mower over the leaves, cutting them into tiny bits which
will fall down between the grass blades
and still cover the roots. A bonus is that many kinds of birds like to poke
through the shredded pieces for food. In north Texas, wait until late February (after
the last frost, probably) to rake it all away.
Owen Yost, in addition to blogging, is a Landscape Architect emeritus
from here, who‘s worked in north Texas for over 30 years. He is a member of the American Society of
Landscape Architects (ASLA), International Society of Landscape Architects, the
National BirdFeeding Society, National Wildlife Federation and the Audubon
Society. He was honored with a Lifetime Achievement award by the Native Plant
Society of Texas. His design office is at Northwestern6782
Let's face it, nature does a fine job of maintaining the worlds unspoiled habitats, the vegetation continues to grow year after year. There's no reason to suspect our own gardens will be any different.
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