I recently posted some pictures of the changing of the colors we are seeing in Michigan this fall. In those picture, you'll notice the very large trees in our yard. Those beautiful trees equate to many, many leaves in our yard every fall. A friend suggested we start mowing over the leaves in our yard to mulch and fertilize. We did and were amazed at how many leaves the rider mower mulched up.
I came across an article this week explaining the benefits of mowing over leaves instead of raking, substantiating our friend's suggestion. Not only does it save time and back pain from racking and bagging or burning, it also benefits your lawn. Not to mention, if you don't burn, there are costs for bagging and getting rid of the bags of leaves.
The article explained that all yards that were mulched with leaves seen a decrease in weeds, especially dandelions and crabgrass. It can also help with patches. These are all issues we are dealing with in our yard.
I didn't have a chance to get any pictures of our yard yet, but the here is a link to the article. The pictures are accurate, however, in our yard, the mulched leaves are much less visible.
Smart Gardening Article from Michigan State University:
http://www.plantmichigangreen.com/aws/MNLA/asset_manager/get_file/113897
I highly suggest you give it a try ... happy mulching!
More to come from the mind of ...