I've been planning on stealing some from a neighbor and just dumping them on my garden straight. I didn't think using a lawnmower at all was strictly necessary. There aren't mulching lawnmowers in the wild and deciduous forests seem to do ok. 2009-11-07T12:35:27+11:00 false 13565 2834 2009-11-07T12:35:27+11:00 1237 Many people "mow" the leaves for two reasons, First is that they break down faster, and the other is that chopped up leaves don't blow away as readily as whole leaves. I often use whole leaves on my garden and have have no problems with them. The other way I use autumn leaves is to put them in plastic garbage bags, adding them in layers with blood and bone and watering the layers as I go. If you leave the bags in the sun for a while, this helps the leaves break down a lot faster, and they can then be spread on the ground when you are ready. 2009-11-07T12:42:54+11:00 false 13566 2834 2009-11-07T12:42:54+11:00 4086 I use whole leaves because I don't own a lawn mower. I keep thinking I'm going to rent a leaf shredder, but I never quit get around to it. I like to dig the leaves into my garden -- they disappear in a couple of months that way. I also use them as mulch. 2009-11-07T13:26:38+11:00 false 13568 2834 2009-11-07T13:26:38+11:00 1713 I don't mulch mine because our mulching mower does too good of a job, and there is not enough left over to mulch with. However, mulching is not a bad idea, if you live where you get a lot of wind as we do. 2009-11-07T13:28:39+11:00 false 13569 2834 2009-11-07T13:28:39+11:00 5779 whole leaves will do the same job as mulched leaves, just a bit slower. unless you are trying to get an red line agricultural return i would say whole leaves are fine. PS: leaves don't get mulched in a forest :P 2009-11-07T13:49:24+11:00 false 13570 2834 2009-11-07T13:50:02+11:00 11525 I use whole leaves from our cherry trees to mulch my shade bed each year, and while they suppress weeds very well, they get slimy and matted by the end of the season. I think that's another reason why shredding is advised; matted leaves can block water from getting in and out of the soil. That said, my shade perennials don't seem awfully bothered. If the leaves do get matted, you can always rake them up in the spring and dig them in, as Katxena suggested. 2009-11-07T13:59:18+11:00 false 13571 2834 2009-11-07T13:59:18+11:00 25 I always used whole leaves until I discovered by accident that the lawnmower will chop them up-- miracle! I used to tediously rake, then mow. Now I just push them all onto the sidewalk and chop away. The only problems with whole leaves are that they take more than a single winter to break down, so you'll have slightly unsightly, partially broken down, somewhat slimey leaves to deal with in the spring (they break down by summer as a rule), plus, they blow around. 2009-11-08T00:33:52+11:00 false 13574 2834 2009-11-08T00:33:52+11:00 3568 Thanks guys! @Tonya, I'm going to try your "in the bag" composting style - what do you mean by blood and bone and how long do you usually leave them in the sun? 2009-11-08T06:45:13+11:00 false 13581 2834 2009-11-08T06:45:13+11:00 12244 "blood and bone" - blood meal (high N fertilizer) and bone meal (high P fertilizer). Whole leaves, shredded leaves, mulched leaves... weeds and volunteers (green mulch, IOW)... manure/compost... coffee grounds... just a bit of wood ash... a bit of 10-10-10 if things still test out low Um. I guess I throw pretty much anything worthwhile I can get my hands on into the garden and till it under in the fall. 2009-11-09T01:46:24+11:00 false 13592 2834 2009-11-09T01:46:24+11:00 5362 Hmmm. It must be a meme...I just journaled about doing this yesterday "here":http://myfolia.com/journals/70611-mulching-the-lawn-with-shredded-leaves. My mower does sometimes blow leaves around on the turns. After the first couple of turns, I just go wide and remow the blown away leaves. How different is that than the blowing around the wind does while you are trying to rake? I find that mowing, even with remowing the blown away leaves is still a zillion times faster and less work intensive than raking. That said, I have to agree with pretty much everyone here...leaves aren't shredded in the wild. That's something I do to keep from killing grass overwinter and fertilizing them at the same time. The leaves I put on my actual gardens aren't shredded. Come spring, after they've done their winter job of keeping weed growth down and protecting tender plants from cold snaps, I'll till them into the soil to act as fertilizer. The only exception is an area that tends to have slugs. That I'll leave bare, except for around certain plants that need cold protection. Is your mower not a mulching mower? That might explain it blowing so much you couldn't use it. But it still should have been able to bag most of the leaves easier than raking them. I'm sorry, I'm having trouble picturing the mower blowing the leaves around *so* much your husband would rather use a rake. Here's a picture of my unraked, and half-mown lawn so you can tell what I'm talking about. The part with leaves is unraked, remember. The part without leaves has had nothing done to it but the mowing. 2009-11-09T02:16:19+11:00 false 13593 86565 2834 2009-11-09T02:16:19+11:00 609 Mine's not a mulching mower, it bags the cut material. I don't have big problems with the leaves blowing around. I think it might be how one categorizes "problem." I do what janietta does-- I just chase down the few that get blown. 2009-11-09T02:43:55+11:00 false 13597 2834 2009-11-09T02:43:55+11:00 3568