Both of you are right, in a sense! I’m with your wife in that I recommend good old fashion raking to blowing, if possible. Turf grass Specialist Clint Waltz with UGA says you DO need to get leaves off the grass, but don’t throw them away or bag them. If there are many on the lawn, mulch over them with a mower. Leaves are natural mulch and when broken down and serve as nutrients back to the soil. Pile them around trees and in garden beds. Seth Hawkins from the Georgia Forestry Commission says it best: “Everything in that leaf is what the tree is giving up and losing and what it needs back in its system. Keep them in place as natural fertilizer/mulch!”

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