I have a lot of leaves, more than my beds can handle. so I compost some directly in a compost pile. For the rest I enlist some help from the Ladies. They are terribly curious about anything new and find a leaf pile pretty entertaining.

They'll spend all winter shredding these leaves and by spring they'll be fine black mulch. It also makes the run less muddy and that keeps their feet and their roosts a little cleaner in the coop.
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Here in the Pacific Northwest, leaf mulching your perennial beds also helps them by slowing down the velocity of rain hitting the soil, so that water soaks in slowly. This helps prevent erosion and nutrient loss in the soil.

We have a lot of half-hardy plants here, that benefit from protection from the occasional hard freeze. act as a blanket for the plant roots, protecting them from freezing too hard, specially when there's no snow.
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"Leaving the leaves" means leaving them on your property, especially if the alternative is a landfill. I don't have an actual lawn, but I do have wide grassy pathways between garden beds. Mostly I just use them as mulch in the perennial beds.

These leaves have insect eggs and pupae in them. Most insects are beneficial for your garden. And those are essential food for birds. Especially for the baby birds that will arrive in Spring.
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#PNW #leavetheleaves #gardening #autumn #Leaves