How to use fall leaves the green way

You've raked up all the leaves into neat little piles, trimmed the trees and added the clippings to the mounds. Now what do you do with them? Sure, you could bag them up and send them packing. That's what a lot of people do with their fall leaves and yard clippings. It's not very environmentally friendly, though, is it? Using fall leaves the green way is really quite simple.

Jump in them

That's right, I said jump in them. Remember how fun this was when you were a kid? It still can be. So, before you go green with your fall leaves and yard clippings, take some time to have a little fall family fun.

Feel the leaves crunch under your feet. Jump into the piles with wild abandon. Forget about the neighbors. Enjoy fall like you did as a child, by running and jumping in the leaves right along with the kids. It crushes the leaves up for green projects too.

Then get started on more conventional  recycling of your fall leaves and yard clippings.

Compost them

This is a pretty obvious green use for all those fall leaves. Why not start a compost pile? Make organic compost to use as fertilizer or soil for next years yard and garden. It's about as green as you can get. Don't worry if you've never done it before. It's really very easy to do. It's not a perfect science. Pretty much anyone can do it.

Mow them down

So you think compost is too complicated? Maybe you're just too busy to maintain a compost pile. Here's a simple way to fertilize your lawn each fall. Keep the leaves right where they fell. Mow them over several times and turn them into a fine powder. Leave the ground leaves right on the yard for a quick green fertilizer. Recycling fall leaves and yard clippings was never so easy.

Note: Take care not to leave ground completely covered. It needs air to survive.

Mulch them

How else can you go green with fall leaves and clippings? Use them as mulch. Save money on mulch by using what you already have on hand to bed down plants for the winter. You can also spread crushed leaves all over the garden bed as fertilizer. Organic matter like leaves and yard clipping will assimilate itself into garden soil over the winter. Recycling autumn leaves and yard clippings the green way doesn't have to be complicated.