Are leaves and petals biodegradable?

Question

I'm asking because recently, my mom has wanted me to do gardening work. I need to know whether to rake those or if I should just leave them there cuz they'll disappear. What do you guys do personally if you do actually get rid of them? Are there any easy tricks or anything? I tried using a blower, but that thing blows...

Answer 1

Yes, they are biodegradable.  However, if your mom wants her place to look good she might want you to pick up trash like this.  I'd start a compost pile and put stuff like leaves and petals in it along with grass clippings and leaves in the fall.  You can even put kitchen scraps.  Just don't put animal products like meat, bone, fat, butter or any milk products.  It'll cause a bad odor.

Answer 2

leaves and petals are very biodegradable. however they might not very attractive....

Answer 3

Leaves and petals ARE biodegradable. If you leave them where they are it could take a year or more for them to decompose to the point where they are unrecognizable.

Aside from starting and adding them to a compost heap, you could dig small holes in the garden and bury the leaves and petals from the garden right in the soil. They will decompose faster than if you leave them on top of the soil and be less unsightly.

The leaves that you would rake up from a lawn would probably be a greater(larger) amount than that which you would accumulate in the garden and you can either dispose of them in the trash or compost those also (a much better idea than putting them in the trash.)

You really should consider starting to make compost with the biodegradable material you collect from your garden, property and kitchen scraps (from your fruits and vegetables). You will have rich, wonderful, free fertilizer that can be added to the garden soil AND lawn. You will be surprised at the difference it makes in how things grow.

Your mother’s garden will grow lush green foliage, beautiful flowers and delicious fruits and vegetables (without any store-bought fertilizers).

As already stated by others, you can go on-line and search “How to Make Compost” (no parentheses) and find tons of easy to follow instructions on composting.

So, the easy thing to do would be to just leave them where they are.

The best thing to do would be to compost or bury them.

And the worst thing to do would be to throw them out to be carted away to a landfill.

But your question gives me the impression you want to know what to do that would be the least amount of work and that would be to just leave them where they lie – undisturbed. Gardening can be a wonderful experience and bring you great pleasure – if you enjoy it. If you don’t enjoy it – it can be boring and unpleasant, like hard-labor.

Good luck.

Answer 4

Gee, just think about your question. If the leaves were not biodegradable the world might be under about a mile of leaves right now. Does wood rot away? leaves are a part of a tree; right! Well, trees rot into the soil fortifying the soil. So, make a compost pile, turn the leaves into the soil, burn them (if allowed in your area) mulch them with a mulcher