Nature and Gardening

6654 readers

34 users here now

All things green, outdoors, and nature-y. Whether it's animals in their natural habitat, hiking trails and mountains, or planting a little garden for yourself (and everything in between), you can talk about it here.

See also our Environment community, which is focused on weather, climate, climate change, and stuff like that.

(It's not mandatory, but we also encourage providing a description of your image(s) for accessibility purposes! See here for a more detailed explanation and advice on how best to do this.)

This community's icon was made by Aaron Schneider, under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

107

Trust in nature – and stop raking up your garden leaves (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 11 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

46 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Some choice quotes from the article:

[S]pent leaves that flutter to the ground aren’t a waste product. They are rich in carbon and play an essential role for the tree and the ecology it supports.

The leaves act as a physical barrier for soil, keeping it and its many microbes insulated, and also for the tree roots, as the wet mats of autumn leaves shelter the fragile top layer from the drying winds.

Many, many things live in these dead leaf layers: caterpillars of moths and butterflies, their chrysalises, beetles, centipedes, springtails, woodlice and spiders … and doesn’t the blackbird know it, rustling through the leaves?

No one loves wet autumn leaves more than earthworms, though. Sensing one of their favourite things, they start to work on incorporating them into the soil. Earthworms line their homes with autumn leaves, using them for bedding and then, because they are good housekeepers, they eat them as they break down.

Leave the leaves be: they are not a mess, a waste or a hindrance – they are life and vital with it.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

I think you linked to the wrong page; that one's about the different types of roots and root systems.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago

I've gone and edited my comment for better clarity, but the linked page shows a good representation of the types of tree roots and their spacing relative to the canopy, with the functions they perform for the tree listed below. You'll notice that the fine roots, which can grow from each other type of root, are most prevalent in the uppermost soil profile and towards the extremities of the lateral roots. The bulk of nutrient and water exchange happens in this zone, sometimes extending 1.5 - 4x the diameter of the tree's canopy.