There are second uses for lots of things – including fall leaves. An Irons Oaks Environmental Learning Center official recommends keeping and mulching fallen leaves to help the health of local soils and wildlife. And to appreciate the beauty and usefulness of fall leaves, join the Irons Oaks’ Fall Walk at 10 a.m. on Thursday, Nov. 10, starting at the Vollmer Road Parking Lot.
There are second uses for lots of things – including fall leaves.
“Leaves are part of a natural cycle and a wonderful product of living in an area that has seasons,” said Cheryl Vargo, manager of the Homewood-Flossmoor Park District’s Irons Oaks Environmental Learning Center. “I think we forget that in our rush to be rid of them in the fall.”
She recommends joining Irons Oaks’ Fall Walk at 10 a.m. on Thursday, Nov. 10, starting at the Vollmer Road Parking Lot.
In the mean time, Vargo urges residents to gather up their leaves and put them to use.
“A leaf layer of several inches is its own mini ecosystem!” Vargo says enthusiastically. She recommends adding leaves to flower beds and gardens as winter mulch.
“As the leaves decompose, they release trace amounts of micro-nutrients into the soil and the dried remains protect the soil surface from erosion and insulate the root zone during the cold winter freeze,” Vargo explained. “Use leaves soon after they fall to maximize the micro-nutrient benefit to plants.
“Many wildlife species rely on leaves to find food or habitat, including salamanders, chipmunks, box turtles, toads and earthworms,” she added.
Residents have been planting milkweed after the Monach butterfly population showed a decline. Vargo said many butterfly and moth species overwinter as pupae in your leaf litter.
“Butterfly and moth caterpillars are a critically important food source for birds in the spring when they are feeding their babies. If you remove all the pupae with your leaves in the fall, there will be fewer of these insects and birds in and around your yard in the spring,” she stressed.
To make leaf mulch, Vargo suggests efficiently shredding leaves with a lawn mower by mowing in decreasing circles with the discharge shoot pointed towards the center, or collect leaves with the bag attachment.