This autumn is an excellent time to add a new natural area to your yard. There may be a place where you can create a “no-pick-up” zone for dead leaves as you prepare your yard for winter. (We trust you are sweeping the rest of those leaves under shrubs and trees and never shipping them off property or burning them.) For a few seasons you may see some grass growing through the leaves, but you can avoid that problem entirely by putting down several layers of newspaper first. Soon lawn and weeds will be smothered as leaves accumulate. A “woodland floor” develops.

Make a clear demarcation between the “no pick-up” zone and the lawn. You can accomplish that by digging a three-inch edge around the new area to make it look purposefully created. Perhaps give it a pretty curved shape. You can even add plastic or metal lawn edging if you wish. Stones also make a nice edge.

In just one year trees may sprout in the new mulch, and numerous insects will be scurrying about creating rich humus and attracting a wide variety of songbirds to your yard. Please remove “junk” tree seedlings (like box elder) and non-native species (like Norway maple and Chinese elm). Pull them while they’re small so that it is easy to do. If no satisfactory native species appear, purchase and plant small native tree or shrub specimens appropriate to the location. You’ll love the birds and small critters that use the area, and the native plants will be beautiful year round.

Idea adapted from an article in Wild Ones Journal