this post was submitted on 18 Nov 2024

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506

They're called leaves for a reason. (mander.xyz)

submitted 16 hours ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 hours ago (2 children)

Or realize that there is still tons of land that isn't maintained and is actually a better habitat for bees anyway. Even in your own neighborhood ther is plenty of places that don't get tended to. This is really just a diversion to redirect people from all the things the ag industry does that harm the bees on a scale us individuals, even collectively can't hold a candle to. Remember when they tried to convince us that leaving the water running while we brush our teeth was a major usage of fresh water. But again, compared to the ag industry, all household water use is a drop in the bucket.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 hour ago

Sure but.. It's still a really good advice and I'm glad someone posted it. I rarely rake away leaves for reasons like this, and this gives me one extra reason to not do so.

That doesn't mean you're wrong, but we can all be right : fight the important battles for large scale effects while enjoying the small scale effects of individual actions.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 hour ago

For insects, pristine lawns are a huge problem. This isn't quite comparable.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 hours ago

Brings nutrients into your soil so you have a healthier lawn

[–] [email protected] 10 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

I'll (electrically) blow leaves off of walkways, but the vast majority of them stay put. Fuck a fucking lawn.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 hours ago

Fuck a fucking lawn.

Is that kinda like a putting green but for...?

[–] [email protected] 36 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

I'm pretty sure if I didn't do any yard work by May I'd have the city repossessing my home.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

Start a movement to stop the city from forcing people to cut their yards. It creates smog, kills the insects we need for food, damages the native plants, wastes money, and looks ugly. Natural yards are awesome.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 hours ago

How does cutting a yard contribute to smog? The Lawnmower?

[–] [email protected] 83 points 15 hours ago (2 children)

I've decided to leave the leaves on my yard and I swear my neighbors are mowing and leaf blowing twice as much just to spite me.

IDGAF. I'd rather have fireflies and bumblebees than human neighbors

[–] [email protected] 19 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

Fireflies were spectacular this year.

In the front yard I let the wind take whatever leaves it takes. In the back I rake a path to the gates. Those leaves get put in a large open bin along my fence which makes nice soil in a year of so. Everything else is as nature intended.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

I’m hoping I can stem the collapse. I saw three fireflies this past summer. Which is a 3x improvement over the summer before that.

But coming from a place where I could walk through the woods on a dark night just by the light of fireflies it hurts my soul to be somewhere so sterile.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 hours ago

We don't get fireflies where I am, and one of my brothers took his kids on a trip to the Statesian South, his motivation being so they could see fireflies before they go extinct. I kind of wish I'd tagged along.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 13 hours ago

And then they complain that their fruit garden isn't working.

[–] [email protected] 93 points 16 hours ago (3 children)

Too bad HOAs are far more concerned with making sure everything looks plain and perfect to the 70 year old humans walking on the street rather than giving any craps about wildlife.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 10 hours ago

In a previous house I rented, the HOA ladies would drive around the neighborhood roughly 3 times a week. There were less than 200 homes in the whole subdivision. Even if you walked slowly, it would only take an hour to walk the whole thing, but instead they drove.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 16 hours ago (8 children)

You think anybody is walking on the street in the US?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 hours ago

You think otherwise?

[–] [email protected] 26 points 15 hours ago (2 children)

I'm not American but my understanding is that many of those "suburban" residential blocks have sidewalks and you can walk around withing the confinement of your block. However blocks are isolated from each other and you need a car to go somewhere else.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

My block of suburbia growing up only had a sidewalk for the last 2 houses on it, everyone else didn't get one

So that's nice

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 hours ago

I'm increasingly seeing neighborhoods where there's only a sidewalk on one side of the street...and then it terminates for no reason...and then it starts again...

It's so bizarre.

[–] [email protected] -3 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago)

Hah, I forgot that there are actually lots of suburban places that have no sidewalks. I was more talking about how no one walks and everyone drives, but it seems everyone interpreted that to mean specifically walking in the driving lanes.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 14 hours ago

America build the suburbs as a big fake playground where you can walk your dog.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 15 hours ago

Absolutely. There’s a lot in my neighborhood… And it’s annoying when there’s a perfectly good sidewalk right there.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 15 hours ago

Plenty of them do. And I hate it. They need to be on the sidewalk, not the street.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 13 hours ago

Yeah, quite a few

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 15 hours ago

Don't worry, they're also hostile to humans under the age of 70

[–] [email protected] 20 points 14 hours ago (2 children)

I don't view this as a "pick up the leaves or not" false choice. I leave the leaves in some areas and mow over/pick them up in others. They're literally free mulch and compost

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 hours ago (2 children)

If you leave them all in place they all turn into free mulch and compost anyway. And you avoid using the fossil fuels to power the mower you don't need in the first place.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago)

I have a battery powered mower and utility has done a pretty good job of incorporating renewables into their mix

I also have some small spots where I want grass

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 hours ago

That's probably the least efficient way to mulch that stuff, don't just leave it out like that

And you avoid using the fossil fuels to power the mower you don't need in the first place

Ah, should we all be using the push powered ones, then, cuz those are fucking terrible. Not having grass is nice for those who don't live where it's a legal requirement, but that's out for many people, and you do have to cut it or you'll get a different law visit instead

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

Go to a farm, ask for stall muckings....free compost.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 hours ago

You will want to be sure to sift them a little, as there will be a lot of stones in them, in my experience.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

until it snows, then it becomes a slip-n-slide for all.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 hours ago

our yard and sidewalks / pavement becomes slime slick if they're left around. I doubt there are many bees in my leaf piles, it's been raining for a month straight.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 15 hours ago

Just remember that month suggestions online are for certain geographic areas. You might need to move them earlier or later. (The best rules I have seen is when nights are above 50 F in North America)

[–] [email protected] 9 points 15 hours ago

In other words, leave nature alone and let it do the thing it designed itself to do

[–] [email protected] 5 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago)

And now I'm even more glad that where I live they leave the leaves under the tree. Didn't know that bumblebees live under that leaves left under the tree. Now I wanna leave a commest about the cute bumblebees that live under the leaves that someone left under the tree.

P.S. sorry, couldn't hold myself, sorry:)