I haven't put any leaves out on my curb the last two years, but I still use my electric leaf blower. Early in the season, I use my mower to mulch some of the first leaves to fall into the lawn(which consists of grass, clover, violets, dandelions, etc). But eventually there are just too many leaves to mulch, and they would smother everything, so I blow them into big piles. Then we take the dogs out to play in the piles. Then we scoop them up with tarps and spread them all over my veggie garden beds. In fact I went and "stole" some leaves from the piles my neighbors put on the curb to get even more coverage of my gardens. Now in spring, the leaves have smothered a lot of weeds, and the ones that do grow are easier to pull because they have to push through the leaves and the dirt stays moist longer. I see a lot of insect life living in the leaves as I go about weeding. I hope the ecosystem is strong to balance out pests on my veggies.