What to do with oddly bare ground around a tree
New homeowners want to maintain their nice yards but lack the landscaping experience to know how to handle bare spots. This uncertainty stops them from knowing where to start, leaving them unsure if they should fix the area or just lazily mow over the literal feet of leaves dumped by old trees.
What the numbers show
Counted from the threads quoted below. How we count
- People have been saying this in most months since September 2026.
- This comes up 22.3× more often in r/lawncare than across the site as a whole.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
What to do with oddly bare ground around a tree
- 1leaving the ground bareDid this help you?
- 2cutting girdling rootsDid this help you?
- 3Mowing over the leaves multiple times to break them downDid this help you?
- 4Setting the mower deck to its highest settingDid this help you?
- 5Waiting for the ground to dry out before mowingDid this help you?
- 6Hiring professional landscapingDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“I’m a bit lazy, I’m planning to take a different approach by not blowing leaves into leaf bag this year.”source ↗
“If I mow and not collect the clippings, will this be an issue for my lawn comes spring?”source ↗
“Bro I have a 200 year old oak that dumps literal feet of leaves on the ground before I get around to mowing. The leaves pile up over the top of my mower while going through.”source ↗
“Ive munched up like 5x this amount before. Had to go over it twice though.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 3Can I add soil around an old tree trunk to fix erosion?
- 5Should I remove newly planted trees that everyone hates?
- 5Will putting peat moss over grass seed bury it too deep?
- 6Are later steps in lawn care programs actually necessary?
- 7Why is my newly transplanted tree dying after moving from a pot?
- 2Should I cut down overgrown foundation bushes?