Not Your Lawn Mower: The Manual Way To Shred Leaves With A Garden Tool You Already Have

As leaves begin to fall and cover your lawn, it can be tempting to simply rake them up and toss them out. However, fallen leaves can actually help maintain a healthy garden by acting as a bunch of free mulch for your yard. Mulch plays an important role in helping lawns and gardens thrive year-round. While mulching is often synonymous with springtime yard work, it can also help protect soil and roots from dipping temps in the fall.

While you could simply keep the leaves as-is and let nature take its course, this isn't the most aesthetically pleasing solution, unless you want to look out onto a ground cover of drying leaves all season. To avoid this, simply chop or shred them up into smaller pieces. When it comes to the actual shredding, you could use a mower attachment or specialty leaf shredder, but these can be expensive, costing upward of $100. Luckily, there's no actual need for a lawn mower to shred leaves. Indeed, manual tools are just as effective, and garden shears, pruning shears, or loppers will all get the job done. 

Ideally, they will have long enough blades to allow you to trim large bunches of leaves at once, without having to crouch too low to the ground for extended periods of time. Not only will this help them blend into the yard from a visual perspective, but it will also ensure that the leaves provide protection to fellow plants, rather than harming them. That's because, when left whole, a large pile of fallen leaves can become a solid, matted mess and actually keep oxygen and water out of the soil.

Leaves are one of the best types of mulch for your garden. Instead of packing up fallen leaves and tossing them out, put them to work by turning them into an all-natural DIY mulch that will decompose and release nutrients into the ground. One option is to use a pair of long shears, such as grass shears or hedge shears, to systematically chop up the leaves while they're still on the ground. However, this can be quite physical and painful on your back. Instead, consider raking all the leaves into a large bucket, like a 5-gallon garbage pail, then submerge the shears straight down and start cutting. 

Keep in mind that the dryer the leaves are, the faster this process will be. Indeed, you should avoid creating mulch out of wet leaves altogether. Not only will they be hard to shred, but the moisture can cause them to compact, creating a matted surface that will choke the lawn underneath. Mix up the contents a few times and repeat until you're left with small pieces, then spread them out evenly on the ground without exceeding 3 inches of mulch. Once finished, if you have leftover leaves, consider adding the remainder to your compost pile for an added bonus.