Around this time of year, they're everywhere -- covering the lawn, stuck in the gutter, strewn across your car windshield. Leaves, leaves and more leaves. Just weeks ago, they looked so beautiful on the trees. Now they look like work.
What to do with them? Here are some suggestions:
Bag and trash. It's easy and acceptable, but the least useful option is to leave your bagged leaves and needles on the curb for the garbage truck to collect and dump in a landfill.
Composting. Dry leaves are a good source of carbon and can be mixed in compost bins or piles in alternating layers with green grass or plant material and manure.
If you want to chop them up a bit, rake them into a pile and run the lawn mower over them several times before adding to the compost heap.
You also can rake and bag and set them aside, then add as needed to the compost heap, or simply till some into your garden soil.
Mulch. Leaves make good mulch around flower beds, roses, tree bases and newly planted bulbs. The mulch helps retain moisture and protects the plants from extreme temperatures. Remove the mulch in spring and add to your compost.
Create art. Art projects probably won't make a big dent in a pile of leaves, but they're fun to do -- and you'll still be putting at least a few leaves to good use.
Check local bookstores or the library for resources on using leaves in crafts. One good choice: Chronicle Books' "Fallen Leaves: A Pressed Leaf Keepsake Book," by Louise Kollenbaum ($22). Sleeves of the book have pages for pressing leaves in the book's journal section. For information, go to www.chronbooks.com.
More projects. Preserve leaves and make them flexible to use in flower arrangements or wreaths. Submerge them in a solution of one part glycerin to two parts water. Place the mixture in a flat pan and submerge the leaves in a single layer, weighing them down to keep them under. In two to six days, they should have absorbed enough liquid to remain soft and pliable indefinitely.
Make leaf rubbings. Lay the leaf underside (ribbed side) up on a tabletop and cover with a sheet of tracing paper or thin typing paper. Rub lightly and rapidly with a soft pencil, charcoal or crayon.
Make leaf prints. Using a roller, spread a layer of ink on a glass plate or smooth cardboard, then place the leaf's underside on the inked surface. Cover with another piece of paper and rub your fingers over it. Remove paper, pick up the leaf and place the inked side on a sheet of plain paper, cover with another sheet of paper and rub. The leaf print will appear on the lower sheet of paper. You also can spread the ink directly onto the leaf, then cover it with a sheet of paper and rub.
Leaf prints can also be made by pressing the underside of the leaf on an ink pad, then pressing the leaf on a piece of paper and rubbing it.
The best of all: Rake them into a pile and jump in!
Can't leave it alone
For fall, we raked our brains to come up with this list of the ways leaves turn up in art, conversation and law books.
Painting: "Autumn Leaves" by Georgia O'Keeffe
Song: "Autumn Leaves"
Play: "The House of Blue Leaves"
Movie: "A New Leaf," 1971, Walter Matthau and Elaine May
Book: "Leaves of Grass," by Walt Whitman
Poem: "The Last Leaf," by Oliver Wendell Holmes
Team: Toronto Maple Leafs
Town: Leaf Rapids, Manitoba, Canada
Fact: California leads the drive to get rid of noisy leaf blowers; they're illegal in 21 cities, including Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Malibu, Beverly Hills and Santa Barbara.
