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Better Use for Yard "Waste"
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Keep the stalks and heads of perennial flowers standing over winter to feed the birds. Any time in spring, cut them to different heights. Cavity-nesting bees will use the open cut ends to enter and build nests inside hollow and pithy stems.
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If you have the space, keep them until late spring, when you can safely put them in the municipal garden waste collection without risking throwing out too many hibernating bees and butterflies.
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Non-migrating butterflies can hibernate as eggs, larvae, in a chrysalis, or as adults. They are well camouflaged, and we will not detect them when we remove flower stems, twigs, bark, or leaves in the fall. Please find a good balance between what must go and what you can keep until late spring or for good.
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Remember, much of the organic material will decompose within the year, improving the depleted city soil.
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Cut flower stalks can provide excellent aeration as a brown ingredient in a compost pile, but they will make it drier. So you need to monitor its moisture.
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Keep parts of dead trees standing in a way that they don't pose a safety hazard. A dead tree contributes to more biodiversity than a living one. It feeds and hosts insects, fungi, and a myriad of microorganisms, including bacteria, nematodes, and arthropods such as beetles, springtails, and millipedes in different life stages. All of those improve your soil through nutrient cycling and serve as excellent food sources for predatory insects and birds like woodpeckers.
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If you have leftover logs, spread them out in your garden beds to provide habitat for wood bees, like carpenter bees. This way, they will leave your patio intact.
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With any woody material, you can make raised beds by burying sticks and branches under a thick layer of soil. This permaculture method, called Huegelkultur, creates very fertile, well-structured soil with a high water-holding capacity.
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Use your fall leaves to mulch your flower beds. They provide insulation for bumblebees and other pollinators, which make their nests in the upper soil layer. This extra blanket can make all the difference in surviving harsh winters.
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It is easier for ground-nesting bees to emerge through a layer of leaves than through wood chips.
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Benefits for animals:
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The leaves provide shelter to many overwintering butterflies and bumblebees.
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Some caterpillars hide under the leaves during the day, e.g. the Great Spangled Fritillary.
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Leaves are a great food source for many creatures.
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They provide abundant nesting material.
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They also provide habitat for many predatory insects, keeping our unwanted pests at bay.
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Free mulch benefits plants:
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The leaves retain a huge amount of water, therefore, preventing flooding. They buffer the effects of wind and sun, so the soil stays moist much longer.
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The leaves decompose into humus, which acts as free fertilizer. All important nutrients and minerals get recycled.
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A layer of leaves suppresses weeds.
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Leaf litter is an important component of a healthy ecosystem.
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A leaf layer is a year-round operation and only works if kept indefinitely!
Please don't rake up your leftover winter leaves in spring and deposit them in the city's yard waste. They are full of butterflies and bees waiting for the temperatures to warm up enough to emerge, and they are the most biodiverse layer above the soil in your garden, providing cover and food all year round for flora and fauna.
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