Your tree services company can help to keep your trees healthy and free from disease by pruning them annually.  They will also remove and dispose of the debris.  However, you will still have to find ways of getting rid of the fallen leaves that your trees produce every autumn.  Here are three original ideas for putting fallen leaves to good use that you might not have thought of.

Lawn Fertiliser

Although you may already use dead leaves on your compost heap, you may not have thought of using them to fertilise your lawn.

Rather than raking all the dead leaves off your lawn, try leaving them on the grass.  Run your lawn mower (minus the grass collecting basket) over the dead leaves to shred them.  Now take a garden fork or rotary lawn aerator and give the lawn a good going over to aerate it. 

This may leave your lawn looking slightly unkempt for a few weeks, but the leaves will quickly break down to be absorbed into the lawn, providing it with nutrition and free, natural fertiliser.

Flower Bed Fertiliser

In addition to creating free fertiliser for your lawn, fallen leaves can be used to create a natural nutrient supply for your flower beds too.  All you need to do is collect all the fallen leaves and shred them with a sharp set of garden shears.  Shred the leaves while they are still damp, as this will help to speed up the decomposition process.

When the leaves are shredded, spread them over your flower beds and fork them into the soil around your perennials.  The leaves will break down over the winter months to provide your plants with a welcome boost of fertiliser when they start to grow again in the spring.

Provide Protection for Overwintering Seedlings

Many perennial plants and some annuals set seed during the late summer months.  These seeds fall into the flower beds where they begin to germinate during the later autumn.   A very cold winter can kill vulnerable, tender seedlings unless they're protected. 

Rather than spreading expensive mulch or using horticultural fleece to protect seedlings, you can utilise fallen leaves to do the job.  The leaves form a protective barrier from frost and help to keep the soil warm and insulated.  Gather up bags of fallen leaves and spread them over emerging seeds, using a spring tined rake to spread them.

Instead of throwing fallen leaves onto the bonfire, why not put them to good use by following the tips given above?