When you have the lawn mowed on a commercial property, you want the finished lawn to look neatly trimmed and clean. A leaf here or there might look comforting, but a carpet of leaves just looks messy. But before you arrange for the landscapers to rake up the leaves and cart them away, consider leaf mulching, in which the leaves are eaten up by the mower, broken down into small pieces, and then sprayed back out on the lawn, where the pieces slowly degrade and mix back into the soil. It's a terrific way to nourish the lawn, but many people think the leaf bits will make the lawn look even messier than it was before being mowed. This isn't the case, and it's time to clear up a few misconceptions.
The Pieces Are Smaller Than You Think
First, the pieces that come out of the mulching mower are much smaller than you think. The pieces will, for the most part, fall between the blades of grass and be hidden from view. You may have a few pieces lying on top of the grass blades here and there, but it won't look any worse than if a leaf had blown onto the lawn after the landscapers left. (Thanks to the wind, you'll never have a completely leaf-free lawn, so do not worry about a few tiny leaf bits scattered around.)
Whole Leaves Don't Mulch
Second, whole leaves don't turn into mulch. If you decide to just leave the whole leaves there and not spend money on mowing in the first place (because you think the whole leaves will look better than the leaf bits), you'll harm your lawn. The grass will continue to grow around the leaves; the grass under the leaves won't get sunlight and may become stunted or brown. The leaves themselves will decay while visible and look terrible. All in all, this is not a good option if you want clean-looking landscaping.
You Can Mix Services
If you're still a bit worried about how the leaf bits will look, and you have large areas of grass that need mowing, try combining services. Have a couple of feet next to sidewalks and walkways raked and mowed, and then have the rest mowed/mulched. Unless you regularly have customers gallivanting around the whole lawn space, they're not going to see the parts with the leaf bits. And customers who do use the lawns to cut across the property likely aren't going to care about leaf bits resting at the base of grass blades; they likely won't even look.
Give leaf mulching a try the next time you have the lawn mowed at your property. It is really a lot easier to work with than you realize. To learn more about mulching, talk to a company like Christal Clean Landscapes.
