Good advice, Skip! Falling leaves are like pennies falling from Heaven. Each leaf contains the exact mineral balance that the tree or shrub they came from needed to grow well in that location. It's a mineral formula that money just can't buy. So if you want a treasured garden, be sure to put back into the soil exactly what Nature took out. And if you want a special reward, put in lots more and save the rest just like Skip says. It's like putting money in the bank ready for next year's returns, and with interest!
In My Garden Blog:
Lower South
October 8, 2009
By
Skip Richter,
Austin, TX
Nature knows how to turn fallen leaves into "black gold" for plants.
Fallen Leaves Are Gardening Gold
Cool weather will soon be bringing down the annual deluge of leaves. Unfortunately, many of the leaves in our communities still end up in trash bags at curbside waiting to take an expensive taxi ride to the dump. By the way, guess who pays the fare?
That is a shame since leaves are such a valuable garden asset. It is no accident that nature provides a blanket of leaves in the fall. Plants need to be mulched and soil needs to be enhanced with organic matter. More than half of the nutrients a tree takes up during the season are in its leaves. When we keep them on our property to decompose and release nutrients back into the soil, they become nature's own slow-release fertilizer.
I enjoy composting and, like most gardeners, I never seem to get enough compost. However, I also like to find faster or easier ways to get things done, especially when it comes to recycling leaves.
Composting Leaves
Here are two ways to turn your leaves into compost with almost no work at all:
1) Rototill a layer of leaves into the garden when you prepare the soil for winter. Spread leaves a few inches at a time and mix into the soil. Then repeat once or twice more if you have enough leaves. If you are going to have raised beds, go ahead and make them now for spring planting. Then cover the entire garden with a thick mulch of leaves and leave it to rest for the winter. Here in the south, our warm winters allow for rapid decomposition. By spring your garden beds will be ready for planting. Simply rake the blanket of leaves off the beds and into the walkways, allow the soil to warm for a week or so, and plant.
2) Use leaves as a garden walkway material. I never have enough leaves, so I collect them from the neighbors (after THEY bag them!) and empty the bags down the walkways in my garden, laying them a foot or more thick. As you walk on them and you get some rain, the leaves will compress significantly, and you can repeat the process several times. I've put several hundred bags of leaves in a 35 by 35 foot garden this way over the course of a year.
This gives me a great all-weather pathway in the garden. In a few months you can rake back the leaves on the surface and find 6 to 12 inches of "black gold," ready to simply scoop up onto the garden beds with a manure fork. If you want to speed up the process, you can run a rototiller down the row once or twice, but this is not necessary.
So keep all your leaves in your yard, and if you have neighbors with lots of trees, the next time you see them out there bagging leaves go offer to do them the kindly favor of taking them off their hands! Take them home and empty the bags into large circular holding bins made of wire mesh, or just stockpile the bags out behind the garage for next spring and summer's gardening needs. It is so easy and it works!
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www.daleharvey.co.nz | October 9, 2009 | 12:00AM
Marilyn Kircus | October 9, 2009 | 4:16PM
I'm starting a new garden in an open corner of a mostly tree covered lot. Most of my trees are live oaks. I know I won't get the leaves until spring, but don't they take longer to break down then the leaves that fall in fall? How should I compost them and what can I do to make them break down the fastest. I can also use them as part of my worm compost, if this will work.
C.R.Lanum | October 9, 2009 | 9:30PM
We have a lot of live oak trees and they provide us with lots of leaves. I save and use every one of them; however, it is necessary to shred oak leaves as it takes them a lot of time to break down. If they are not shredded and are put on the landscape too thickly, it sometimes deters rain or other forms of irrigation to reach the soil. Oak leaves break down so much faster if they are shredded.
gogreennow | October 13, 2009 | 9:21AM
As Skip said the fallen leaves are a treasure that you find in your backyard. To your point, I have been using a product that is organic and helps me with the breakdown acceleration. So far, it has worked really well. The name is Ultimate Root by GreenerCreation.com
gogreennow | October 13, 2009 | 9:22AM
As Skip said the fallen leaves are a treasure that you find in your backyard. To your point, I have been using a product that is organic and helps me with the breakdown acceleration. So far, it has worked really well. The name is Ultimate Root by GreenerCreation.com
gogreennow | October 13, 2009 | 9:27AM
As Skip said the fallen leaves are a treasure that you find in your backyard. To your point, I have been using a product that is organic and helps me with the breakdown acceleration. So far, it has worked really well. The name is Ultimate Root by GreenerCreation.com
growinggreennow | October 13, 2009 | 9:37AM
As Skip said the fallen leaves are a treasure that you find in your backyard. I trully believe in organic processes, and using what mother nature is givin us. To your point, I have been using a product that is organic and helps me with the breakdown acceleration. So far, it has worked really well. The name is Ultimate Root by GreenerCreation.com Hope you like it too.
growing green now | October 13, 2009 | 9:54AM
As Skip said the fallen leaves are a treasure that you find in your backyard. To your point, I have been using a product that is organic and helps me with the breakdown acceleration. So far, it has worked really well. The name is Ultimate Root by GreenerCreation.com
Jane V. | October 13, 2009 | 10:36AM
Marilyn, As Skip said the fallen leaves are a treasure that you find in your backyard. I truly believe we always should treasure what Mother Nature is giving us. To your point, I have been using a product that is organic and helps me with the breakdown acceleration. So far, it has worked really well. The name is Ultimate Root by GreenerCreation.com hope this help : )
Karen | October 14, 2009 | 6:41PM
Pardon my ignorance--- new to gardening---how would you go about 'shredding' oak leaves for compost. We have more than two acres with countless trees. I can't imagine I would ever gather up all the leaves but we usually have done so near the home and decking. I won't be doing that non-sense again! ;-)
Karen | October 14, 2009 | 6:41PM
Pardon my ignorance--- new to gardening---how would you go about 'shredding' oak leaves for compost. We have more than two acres with countless trees. I can't imagine I would ever gather up all the leaves but we usually have done so near the home and decking. I won't be doing that non-sense again! ;-)
Skip | October 18, 2009 | 1:37AM
Karen, I think the easiest way is with a lawnmower. I sometimes mow the yard blowing the leaves and any clippings toward the center then rake up the "windrow" of semi shredded leaves when I get near the center. Other times I use the grass catcher bag on the mower to gather leaves, but if there are a lot of leaves you will be stopping a lot to dump the bag. A final option is to run the leaves through a shredder which will do a much better job of shredding the leaves.
Jim | October 18, 2009 | 11:42AM
Does grass clippings help a garden
Skip | October 20, 2009 | 8:12PM
Grass clippings are great for a garden and will contribute nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium in approximately a 3-1-2 ratio to the soil when they decompose. Two things to keep in mind: First, don't put fresh clippings on too thick. On a hot summer day a thick pile of clippings can start to smell. Second, make sure the lawn has not been treated with a weed killer. Broad leaved weed killers made to kill growing weeds can be very persistent and may damage garden plants when the clippings are piled around them like a mulch. This is especially true for sensitive species such as tomato and green beans.
