Your neighborhood calls it “yard waste.” I call it a pile of free fertilizer waiting for a truck. As summer hits Minnesota, I’m watching curb lines fill with bags of leaves, grass clippings, and garden debris, and it’s a perfect snapshot of how weird suburban lawn culture has gotten. We strip our yards of organic matter, then wonder why the soil struggles and the lawn needs constant help to stay green. I break down why healthy soil depends on organic matter and decomposition, and why f...