The Town of Natick Department of Public Works has announced the fall 2022 yard waste collection schedule.

Fall yard waste will be picked up one time only for each trash day.

Natick yard waste pick-up schedule

• Tuesday trash day—yard waste pick-up is Mon., Nov. 7
• Wednesday trash day—yard waste pick-up is Mon., Nov. 14
• Thursday trash day—yard waste pick-up is Mon., Nov. 21
•  Friday trash day—yard waste pick-up is Mon., Nov. 28

Follow the rules

• Yard waste must be in paper biodegradable bags or in trash barrels clearly marked “yard waste.”
• Plastic bags filled with yard waste will not be collected.
• Residents are reminded to have their yard waste at the curb by 7am.

Yard waste pick-up dates don’t work for you?

Yard waste can be brought to the Recycling Center, 75 West St., throughout the year.

Hours:

• Thur. and Fri., 8am-noon
• Sat. and Sun. 8am-3:30pm

Just a thought—maybe keep some of those leaves around the place

Fallen leaves contain a natural fertilizer called phosphorus. When leaves are mulched and left in yards to decompose or are composted, they add nutrients to soil and plant beds. Leaf litter left in yards also helps insulate plants and protect them from harsh winter weather.

Last year we topped our perennials border with a thick layer of leaves, and left the fallen leaves around all our shrubs (azaleas, rhododendrons, hydrangeas—you get the idea). We didn’t get all high horticulture by shredding them or anything fancy like that. We wondered if the fall and winter winds would just blow all those leaves back onto the lawn. Come spring, there was evidence of some of that, but we’re not talking major piles of additional spring clean-up to deal with than in years past.

But what about all those leaves in the perennials border and under the shrubs? Did we now have to rake them out during spring clean-up? Definitely not. Every year we get three yards of mulch delivered at the beginning of May. When mulching the perennials bed and the shrubs, we just put the mulch on top of the leaves we placed there last fall. We feel having the leaves under the mulch gave the plants one more line of survival defense during the extremely hot summer of 2022. In our yard we have several azaleas under huge trees, which compete with the delicate shrubs for scarce water resources. We didn’t lose a single azalea over the summer, which we credit to this double line of protection.

We’re not crazy—we don’t leave the leaves everywhere. What we can’t mow back into the lawn, we rake up and bag. But we are wondering if our wide expanse of lawn is 100% necessary. Bob extended the perennial border by two feet for me this month, all the better to reduce the portion of our yard devoted to lawn (and to add a few plants before the freeze). Wait, wasn’t I supposed to be scaling back the whole gardening thing? Seems I just can’t help myself. If loving new plants is wrong, I don’t want to be right.

________________________________________________________________________________________