Tomorrow is October first, it's time to start raking leaves. If you are like me and have a lot of trees on your property, then you find yourself inundated with dead leaves, every fall.
What do you do with them?
Lets take a fall leaf poll:
What do you do with them?
Lets take a fall leaf poll:
| Believe it or not, leaves are a good thing. I know it's a pain collecting them, but try to think of it this way, you are harvesting a fall crop! Basically that is what you are doing; harvesting a valuable resource for your land and garden. Leaves have tons of trace minerals that are good for your soil. They also are a fine feast for your ever helpful earthworms, and other creatures and microbes that live in your earth. Leaves help you keep your dirt healthy and they lighten heavy clay soil and they help thicken sandy soil so it can more readily retain moisture. | |
In other words, leaves are not garbage, they are a valuable resource, if you garden. Let's look at each of the choices in the poll:
- Bag them for spring mulch - run them over a few times with your lawnmower to shred them and then put them in a plastic garbage bag and set them in your garage or shed. When spring arrives, spread the mulch on your garden beds to help choke out weeds, retain moisture and feed the soil.
- Use them immediately to cover my garden for the winter - unfortunately, they still involves shredding them and bagging them so they can "season" for a few weeks before you spread them over your garden beds to insulate them for the winter. I also usually spread granulated organic fertilizer on top of the leaves, for even better soil.
- Put them in my compost pile - after I have covered all my garden beds in leaves, I shred what remains and toss it in the compost pile. Leaves are a fabulous source of carbon and that balances out the surplus of nitrogen your compost pile most likely has.
- Bag them and leave them at the curb - If you don't garden, then this is a viable thing to do with your leaves, however, you may want to keep some of them to spread around under your evergreen trees, other trees and shrubs to help insulate their roots for winter and to feed the soil.
I know it seems like a gardener's work is never done, but soon enough, you will be sitting in your house, looking out over a white landscape and dreaming of tender green shoots poking up out of your soil, picking beautiful tomatoes, and pulling up gorgeous bright orange carrots. Don't worry, Spring will be here before you know it.
Take care,
Jade :)
Image Credit: http://tinyurl.com/k3k464v
Take care,
Jade :)
Image Credit: http://tinyurl.com/k3k464v
This is one of the most useful items I have to help gather leaves and it's a steal at $22.28
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Some other great items to help gather leaves
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