6 Eco-Friendly Ways to Clear Yard Debris This Fall – With Clever Ways to Reuse What You Collect

Fall brings a huge volume of plant material and garden waste, but the good news is everything doesn't automatically need to be thrown in the trash. From composting and mulching to creating leaf mold and leaving waste to support wildlife, there are plenty of eco-friendly ways to clear yard debris.

Adding these jobs to your fall gardening checklist can help make the most of leaves, branches, stems and other garden debris, instead of simply bagging everything up. A compost bin is a good place to start (such as this 80 gallon compost bin from Amazon), helping to put healthy garden waste to good use and reduce the amount of organic material that needs to leave your yard.

Here, our experts explain the best ways to dispose of yard debris, from what to compost and what to leave in your garden for wildlife, to what should stay and what needs to go.

1. Compost Healthy Garden Waste

Knowing when to clear up garden leaves is one thing, but what to do with them is another. As tempting as it may be, you don't actually need to rake and bag up all of the fallen leaves and grass cuttings from your garden.

In fact, one of the biggest mistakes you can make is cleaning up too much, says Anna Ohler, horticulturist and owner of Bright Lane Gardens.

'We’ve been taught that gardens should be cut down and raked completely clean in fall, but that removes a lot of valuable habitat,' she says. 'Extra leaves and healthy debris can be composted.'

Composting keeps healthy, organic material in place while converting it into a valuable soil conditioner for your garden.

'Healthy leaves, grass clippings, and many disease-free garden trimmings can become a valuable soil amendment instead of ending up in a landfill,' explains Brandy Hall, regenerative landscape designer.

Anna Ohler

Anna is an avid plant hobbyist and the owner and operator of Bright Lane Gardens, a boutique plant nursery in Northern Michigan. With over a decade of experience in gardening and landscaping, she takes every opportunity to share her knowledge on all things plant-related. She also runs the company's YouTube channel, which is full of practical advice.

Brandy Hall

Brandy is a regenerative landscape designer, author of The Complete Guide to Home Permaculture, and founder of Atlanta-based Shades of Green Permaculture, a Certified B Corporation specializing in ecological landscape design, installation, and education. She has nearly two decades of experience helping homeowners rethink conventional landscapes as living, resilient ecosystems.

2. Create Wildlife Habitat From Garden Debris

Some of the materials that get cleared away can actually provide valuable shelter and food for wildlife in your garden throughout the colder months.

'Most things don’t need to be removed. In fact, a lot of what we think of as "garden debris" is actually habitat,' says Brandy.

Hollow stems can shelter overwintering native bees and other beneficial insects, while seed heads feed birds. Leaf litter also protects and nourishes the soil food web.

A healthy garden is a messy one, agrees Marcus Griswold, founder of Your Bug Club. 'Dead flowers provide food for birds. Old stems and leaves provide habitat for butterfly larvae, beetles, and many more.'

Fallen leaves are particularly valuable to overwintering insects, including firefly larvae, so Marcus recommends taking a selective approach and leaving some leaves in less-used areas, while keeping paths and other high-footfall areas tidy.

'Leave some, rake some,' he advises. 'Even a thin layer of leaves protects the insect we need to pollinate our gardens. Opt for raking or using a leaf vacuum to capture whole leaves, rather than shredding them with a mower.'

What to shop:

Adjustable Metal Leaf Rake from Amazon is ideal if you need to clear leaves from paths and other high-footfall areas.

3-in-1 Electric Leaf Blower / Vacuum / Mulcher, also from Amazon works well for larger areas, and can collect leaves without relying on a mower.

3. Build A Brush Pile From Branches And Prunings

Don't overlook larger garden debris either, says Basil Camu, a treelcologist and co-founder of Leaf & Limb. 'I'd recommend extracting the large branches and using those to create a brush pile. Then let the leaves and smaller stems and twigs rot, or add them to a bed under trees or shrubs.'

Beetles, frogs, and other small wildlife love these spaces, and beetles are especially great at preying on unwelcome pests, like aphids, says Basil.

You don't necessarily need to sort every piece of a mixed pile, either. Basil says that a mixture of different materials provides a wider range of food sources for the soil organisms and roots. So if separating the pile feels like another job, leaving smaller pieces to break down together is also an option.

Basil Camu

Basil Camu pursues his purpose and passions as the co-founder of Leaf & Limb, a Nature-first tree and land care company based in Raleigh, NC, and Project Pando, a non-profit that aims to connect people to trees. He is a Treecologist, ISA Board Certified Master Arborist, and author of From Wasteland to Wonder, which helps homeowners heal Earth where they live. His work has been featured in a variety of outlets, including The New York Times, Harvard, Forbes, HGTV, A Way to Garden with Margaret Roach, and many others

4. Use Fallen Leaves As Mulch

If you have more fallen leaves than you want to leave on your lawn, moving them onto your garden beds can be a simple way to put them to good use.

'Fallen leaves are one of the best free mulches we have,' says Anna. 'They protect soil, suppress weeds, add organic matter and provide important overwintering habitat.'

Similarly, Brandy recommends moving leaves into beds and beneath trees rather than keeping them as waste.

'You don't have to leave every leaf exactly where it falls,' she says. 'Move them into garden beds, beneath trees, or other planted areas where they can protect the soil, retain moisture, provide habitat, and eventually return nutrients and organic matter to the landscape.'

5. Make Leaf Mold From Fallen Leaves

If you have more fallen leaves than you can use as mulch or leave in place for wildlife, leaf mold is another way to turn leftover leaves into a soil improver for your garden.

'Pile any extra leaves in a forgotten corner to rot', says Basil. 'After a year or so, they turn into excellent leaf compost you can use to grow vegetables, build flower beds, and feed plants.'

You don't need a dedicated setup to get started, either. A simple contained pile, ideally somewhere out of the way will work, leaving the leaves to break down naturally.

6. Remove Diseased Or Invasive Material

While there is a lot you can do with garden debris, there are some things that are better removed rather than added to compost, mulch or wildlife areas.

'The first thing we look for is anything that is clearly diseased, heavily pest-infested, or aggressively invasive,' says Brandy. 'Before deciding how to reuse organic material, you want to make sure you're not unintentionally spreading something that will be disruptive later throughout the garden.'

Anna follows a simple rule of thumb: 'I mostly reserve disposal for diseased material, invasive plants, or weeds with lots of viable seed.'

So, before adding a big pile of garden debris or spreading it around the yard, check you're not giving a disease, pest or invasive plant chance to spread.

Before burning yard debris, it's also worth checking your local rules, as regulations vary by city, county and state. Some areas restrict or ban open burning, while others require a permit when and where it can take place. If burning isn't an option, look for local yard-waste collection or drop-off sites. Check your city or county website or local fire department for the rules in your area.

What To Shop

Fall cleanup doesn't mean stripping your garden bare to feel tidy. More often than not, when it comes to what to do with fallen leaves and other garden debris, leaving more in place is often better.

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