About the Author: Lipoksanen L Jamir is currently working as an intern for NDNS.
He is very passionate about nature.
Everything that comes from the ground must return back to the ground.
While winter is long gone in Delhi and we are experiencing the ever increasing temperature, some trees have started to grow new leaves while others are shedding their leaves.
The fallen leaves paint the streets of the neighbourhood.
It’s good to look at, but later it would have to be cleaned up, because some people consider it as litter. After a long day of raking the fallen leaves, one has a heap of dead leaves and only thinks of burning them.
What if I told you that the fallen, dead leaves can actually benefit you in many ways.
Are you interested?
I have made a list of the possibilities for you to choose.
Make your own fertilizer for your lawn.
Shred the fallen leaves to speed up the decomposition process and spread the shredded leaves on your lawn. The dead leaves provide organic material to the soil improving the fertility of the soil and it can also help in retaining moisture in the soil.
Mulch the leaves into your garden.
By finely chopping the leaves, place them around your plants or flower beds as mulch. The leaves would help to retain water in the soil, provide the plants with nutrients and also help in suffocating unwanted weeds in the garden.
Compost them.
Dead leaves are a good organic matter which can be used in your compost to enhance the fertility/nutrition of the mix.
Sell the leaf litter compost.
Searching for a new way to earn some fast cash?
Leaf litter compost is used widely by farmers and gardeners since they are cheaper and more environmentally friendly. So why not collect dried leaves from your your neighbourhood and compost them to start selling the product.
Donate them.
Don’t want to do any of the above options or just have too many dried leaves?
Donate them, there might be someone in your neighbourhood or a friend looking for dried leaves to compost or to use them for mulch or art projects. There are numerous ways a dried leaf can be used so find someone online who needs it and donate it to them.
Don’t Burn the Dried Leaves.
Burning the leaves will just pollute the air which will also affect the people breathing it. Also, it is illegal to burn leaves in most places, so better to avoid this unless you are ready to pay heavy fines or go to jail.
Great