Snow Is Coming. Do You Still Need To Rake Your Leaves?

So you've been busy.  Or lazy.  Or a bit lazy when you had a moment because you were so busy.  Yeah, that's what I'll go with.

Now there are leaves all over your yard, and snow is on the way.  Should you spend your Thanksgiving weekend raking before the snow hits?  Or, should you stay busy with family, and lazy with food and football?

Snow Is On The Way For The Midwest

Yeah, it's happening.  As of right now, we in the Quad Cities are expected to get 3-5 inches between Friday night and Saturday night.  Things, of course, can change rapidly.  If it stays north, we could see nothing.  If it comes farther south, we could end up with 10 inches.  But right now the odds are that we'll get some sort of accumulating snow this weekend.

Stay up to date with the latest on the storm from the National Weather Service.

Should You Quick Rake The Rest Of The Leaves?

It's probably time to toss the pumpkin.  It's lived a good life.  But what about those leaves?

Your yard might not look like a golf course covered in leaves, but it's actually better for the yard to leave them!

David Mizejewski, a naturalist at the National Wildlife Federation, told USA TODAY. “The leaves fall around the root zone of these plants, where they do things like suppress weeds or other plants from growing that would otherwise compete with the trees and the shrubs,”

If you have a lot of leaves and want to help jump-start the process, then bust out the lawn mower one more time.  Maxim Schlossberg, an associate professor of turfgrass nutrition and soil fertility at Penn State, said, “Since they’re smaller, they're more rapidly dismantled and decomposed by microorganisms. And the whole recycling process of those nutrients being returned to the soil occurs more rapidly.”

Now I can't save you from completely leaving the leaves in your yard if you have heaps and piles.  Experts also agree that if you have too many, it can mat and suffocate your yard.  Especially when covered by snow.  Which again...is coming.

So you might want to get some of them bagged up before the snow falls.  Then back to eating and football.