Here are 5 great reasons to mow — that's right, mow — your leaves

Fall is upon us, and apart from being mesmerized by the vibrant colours, you'll soon find yourself wondering what to do with all those leaves.

People have different ways of dealing with this. Many people just rake them, bag them and then leave them by the roadside to be picked up. Then they're someone else's problem.

I've also seen many people opt to blow the leaves off their lawns. This is quick and convenient, but really is just an out-of-sight, out-of-mind method.

There are some that use a leaf bagger to collect the leaves and dispose of them.

However, there is one other option — apart from not doing anything — and that is to mow them. That's right: mow them.

Here are five reasons why you should try mowing your leaves instead.

Simply mow the leaves on the mulch (or highest) setting of your lawnmower. This breaks them up into much smaller pieces, and the process allows organic matter to enter the soil naturally as leaf bits break down.

It's fast, convenient and provides good nutrition for your lawn. The rain pushes the compost into the earth over time and this step brings nutrition straight to the roots.

If you grow food or have flower beds, collecting these chopped-up leaves into a bagger and spreading it on your garden beds will do them good.

You're taking carbon and injecting it back into the areas of the garden that will benefit from it the most.

You'll have rich and healthy soil and hence you'll produce healthier plants.

The chopped leaves snuff out weeds over time by layering up on certain areas of the lawn. This ends up blocking sunlight and air from getting to weeds. As a result, you'll need to weed your garden a lot less often than you used to.

Make sure you spend the extra time to finely mulch up those leaves, or you'll have to add an extra step of dethatching in the spring. You only want to get rid of the weeds, not your beautiful lawn.

Chopping up leaves using a mulching mower, or even a side discharge mower, will end up saving you a lot of time and energy.