What to Do with Autumn Leaves on the Dacha: 5 Ideas

With the arrival of autumn, the entire dacha plot is covered with leaves. Usually, they are collected in plastic bags and thrown away at landfills, polluting the environment. You can use biodegradable paper bags or apply fallen leaves for household purposes. We found five useful ideas from Western landscape designers.

Important note: no matter which method of leaf processing you choose, you must first chop them up (using a mulching mower or vacuum mulcher).

Add to Compost

Chopped autumn leaves are a great addition to compost. They contain a lot of carbon, which is essential for plants. Mix chopped leaves with vegetable and fruit scraps, weeds, and grass, and leave them over winter. If you visit the dacha before spring, periodically mix the compost.

Use Leaf Mold

Another excellent soil amendment. Making it is even simpler than compost: just pile the leaves in a bucket and moisten them with water. Don't forget to cover the leaves with burlap to maintain humidity levels. Leave the leaves to decompose (this can take 6–12 months).

Later, you can add it to the soil just like compost: leaf mold improves soil structure and helps retain moisture.

Use as Mulch

Leaves are one of the most popular types of mulch. Apply a 1 cm layer of chopped leaves on garden beds so as not to touch the trunks and stems of plants.

Mulch retains moisture in the soil and prevents weeds from growing. Additionally, leaves enrich the soil with useful microelements.

Keep for Later

In spring and summer, you only have young green leaves, which are less beneficial. Collect and store a couple of bags of chopped autumn leaves for later use — in spring you can add them to compost (and you won't need to add shredded newspaper to dry it out).

Walk the Plot with a Lawn Mower

Often, leaves are swept from lawns, but it's much easier to walk over them with a special mulching lawn mower. Chopped leaves will nourish the soil on your plot all winter. As a result, you'll have fewer weeds in spring.

If you do this at least once a week until all the leaves fall, you won't have to spend effort constantly collecting them throughout the plot.