Why experts say you shouldn't bag your leaves this fall

It's better to leave leaves around than to bag them, according to lawn and wildlife experts.

It keeps leaves out of landfill. There are 8 million tons of leaves there every year.

The grass is helped by leaves.

The leaves have a lot of important vitamins and minerals.

Susan Barton is a professor and extension specialist in landscape horticulture at the University of Delaware. The organic matter is more important than that. The soil health is improved by the fact that you have this tissue that degrades.

The University of Delaware's College of Agriculture & Natural Resources says that they provide a habitat for insects, spiders, slugs, turtles, toads and small mammals.

It is recommended that you have some maintenance done. If you want the leaves to break down more quickly, it's best to run over a thin layer of leaves with a lawn mower. The leaves are not good for the grass.

Light will be excluded if you leave the leaves on the grass. The grass will be unable to photosynthesize. It would die under a layer of leaves.

Raking excess leaves will turn them into mulch. shredded leaves can be put in a garden

They will form a very nice mulch if you allow them to break down a bit. She said you can have a better mulch that's free if you don't buy hardwood bark mulch.

City dwellers should be aware that leaves can get pushed into the streets and cause flooding.

Some cities collect leaves for composting at a central facility, where mulch can be collected for free. The leaves in the landfills that don't have enough oxygen to digest will release a lot of methane.

The way people deal with leaves is just one part of a larger issue.

Barton said that they want to think about the leaves as a resource. One of the things we say about sustainable landscaping is to allow natural processes to happen. That's a natural way of doing things.