Mulching Leaves Into The Lawn - Fall 2020

By the time the middle of November comes around, I've been doing leaf clean-up in our yard for at least four weeks.  We get early drops (Walnut), constant drops (Catalpa, Maple, Kentucky Coffee Tree) and late drops (Oaks) and it lasts more than a month.  If I waited until they all came down, it would be a huge mess.  Not that it isn't a good idea.  It just isn't how I address the situation.  When I started this year, I spent time using the mower and bagged up all the leaves as they dropped - by mowing about once per week.  I filled our compost bins pretty quickly.  

But, with our bins filled, what do I do with leaves still on the grass?  I decided to try something new this year:  I just mulched them in the lawn.   You can see it below - this is mostly a lot of oak leaves (which are hard to break down) that have been mulched up and left behind.  

I don't love this look, but I wanted to try it.  Here - below - is a close-up look of the mulched in leaves.  

And here's a wider-view of the same area.  It is messy looking.  But, after we get a rain?  I'm thinking it will melt right in. 

I'm thinking that I'll take the mower with the bag attachment on to the backyard where I mulched in to pick up some of the larger pieces - but will still leave a lot behind.  

This is the first time that I deliberately decided to mulch in directly - but pending the results, it might be something that I use again - either in part (like this year) or repeatedly.