Consumption

Time to do some gardening? We'll cross a time-consuming task off your list! Now that autumn is in full swing and the trees are losing their leaves more and more, rakes, wheelbarrows, leaf blowers, etc. are being brought out. This is how we tackle the falling leaves! At the Leuven City Cemetery, they have taken a different approach: they simply leave the leaves where they are.

This is not laziness, but serves to protect the beautiful trees in the cemetery. The appointed landscape architect determined that the soil at this location was not in a good condition. Falling leaves actually form an important nutrient for the soil, from which trees pump up food (and also water) in order to grow. This is how it works: on the soil, the autumn leaves are converted into humus by all kinds of micro-organisms and insects. This humus is full of food for plants and trees, and retains the water that enters the soil through rain. The falling leaves also activate soil life, making the soil healthier, richer and more nutritious. And healthy trees grow on healthy soil. Trees find it increasingly difficult to grow onn soil that isn't healthy,

So if you don't want to rob the soil of its natural fertilizer, then you better stop clearing all fallen leaves in places where trees grow.

Of course, it remains important to clear leaves from paths, for example, so that they remain useable.
So: let nature do its work and leave the leaves where they are!

(Skwadra by Tagtik/Illustration picture: Pixabay)