Turn Your Fallen Leaves Into 'Black Gold'

Tired of raking, blowing and bagging leaves in the fall, or paying someone else to do it? Well, stopping would be good for your yard and your garden, too.

Initiatives such as the locally-based Leave Leaves Alone campaign encourage homeowners and landscapers to mulch fall leaves. There's also the Love 'Em and Leave 'Em program.

Both point out that getting rid of leaves robs yards of a great resource: natural compost. Also, leaf-blowers contribute to air and noise pollution while using up energy. On the plus side: compost, quiet, clean air; and mulching your leaves at home saves money, too. And it's easy: you can mulch leaves with any rotary-action lawn mower.

A growing list of municipalities are working to cut down the amount of organic yard waste that is needlessly collected and sent away.

Dutchess County offers several DIY ways to compost leaves at home including building your own compost bin.

Cornell Cooperative Extension Putnam County offers composting resources.

Leave Leaves Alone! was developed by a group of Bedford residents. Love 'Em and Leave 'Em is a Westchester County initiative.

Westchester communities Adopting and Promoting On-Site Leaf Mulching

• Bedford
• Bronxville
• Briarcliff Manor
• Chappaqua
• Cortlandt
• Dobbs Ferry
• Eastchester
• Greenburgh
• Harrison
• Hastings
• Irvington
• Katonah
• Larchmont
• Mamaroneck
• Mount Pleasant
• New Castle
• New Rochelle
• North Castle
• Ossining
• Pelham
• Pleasantville
• Scarsdale
• Sleepy Hollow
• Tarrytown
• Tuckahoe
• White Plains
• Yonkers

Video: Created by Edouard Nammour for the Southern Westchester Energy Action Consortium and Greenburgh Nature Center in support of the the Love 'Em and Leave 'Em program funded by Westchester Community Foundation with matching funds from the Local Sustainability Matching Fund, a project of the Funders' Network for Smart Growth and Livable Communities.

Image: Ashley Cooper / SplashdownDirect/Shutterstock