Although spring is only just arriving, some Oak Parkers are dismayed by our trustees’ possible decision to require us to bag our autumn leaves. To avoid bagging, we are told to chop the leaves and let them remain on our lawns. Here is a better alternative:
Decide how much, if any, lawn you need, such as a play area for your young children or perhaps as a border. Remove the remainder of your lawn and install a garden. The autumn leaves that fall onto your garden beds, or the leaves that you rake onto those beds, will serve as excellent mulch, eliminating the need for commercial mulch.
Next spring, save time and money and help your garden — do not rake or blow the leaves from your garden beds. Instead, let the leaves remain in your garden beds to continue serving as mulch. The leaves will eventually decompose, nurturing your garden’s soil.
For your garden, consider using plants native to Cook County. Native plants are low maintenance. Native plants require no fertilizer, and little water once established. Native plants are also environmentally important. They provide food and habitat for pollinators, birds, and insects that birds eat. Native plants, many with deep roots, combat climate change by removing carbon from the air and storing the carbon in the soil.
You can find out more about gardening with native plants by visiting the website of our fabulous local native plant group, Wild Ones – West Cook. You can purchase a wide variety of native plants at West Cook’s native plant sale, happening now.
Jim Poznak
Member, Wild Ones – West Cook
