Top tips on collecting and reusing fallen leaves in your garden

Garden waste? Or a vital carbon-rich resource to reinvigorate your garden and encourage wildlife over the winter period? The change in leaf colour during the autumn season is a visual marvel that all can share and admire. These changing colours reflect the chemical changes in the leaves as trees reclaim the nutrients they need to enter a period of cessation and restoration over winter. The leaf fall itself, which is heralded as a signal of seasonal change—longer nights and colder weather—and sleep, is a process of giving back vital nutrients to the earth in preparation for new growth in the coming spring. How might we collect and reuse leaves in our garden, using a natural seasonal process to tend our gardens, enriching the soil, and providing shelter for wildlife? Clearing leaf fall to protect your lawn You might employ a leaf blower to blow leaves into piles for reuse.

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