How we use leaves in the garden...
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| Shag bark hickory. |
It's a real "win-win" as
neighbors have a free, local place to bring their leaves (which they
would otherwise need to burn, compost or take to the land-fill). We
recycle the leaf-bags by hanging them in our
greenhouses to dry and re-bundling them in packets of six which we offer free to folks in a trash can out front, saving people
money from buying new ones and helping to reduce the purchase of
single-use plastic.
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| Leaves in greenhouse paths. |
The
gardens benefit from having a free source of fertilizer - whether
added to our compost bins, the paths of our greenhouses or directly
mulching the garden-beds over the winter.
About
a month ago, a local reporter offered to write an article about using
leaves in one's landscape or garden and she included info about the
Sharing Garden's leaf-collection program. Here is Edie's article re-printed with permission from the Tribune News (where it was first published).
By
Edie Moro
The
trees are beautiful in the fall with their shades of red, orange and burnt
yellow. Then, the leaves are shed and the trees are bare. What do you do with
the leaves?
Homeowners
may want to make use of their bounty of leaves in their own gardens. Spread the
leaves in a layer on the lawn and run a lawnmower over them several times. This
chops up the leaves and adds grass clippings, which may then be spread over
garden beds and under shrubs. Keep the chopped leaves away from the base of
shrubs or trees where they could hide voles and other rodents that may chew on
the bark.
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| Mowing leaves to use as mulch. |
Also,
for rhododendrons and azaleas, spread a light layer, no more than one or two
inches, over their root zone. These shrubs are shallow-rooted and need access
to oxygen. Piling mulch and clippings too deeply around these plants has been
known to smother and kill them – called “death by volcano.”
Even
easier - homeowners may want to just mow the leaves and let them melt into the
lawn over the winter. It is a great, economical way to feed the lawn.
Sharing
Gardens in Monroe would love your leaves. They use them to cover large areas of
the gardens so they have time over the winter to compost and feed the worms and
other soil-organisms and suppress weeds. The garden has stopped using animal
manures as a source of soil fertility, and have turned to leaves,
grass-clippings, wood-ash and coffee grounds as a replacement (see links below for more info).
Llyn
Peabody and Chris Burns are the Sharing Gardens coordinators. They write a
blog about the garden at www.thesharinggardens.blogspot.com/, which includes
gardening information, recipes and other "homesteading" info.
Llyn explains the need for the leaves, “There
is a saying that, 'for every calorie you harvest out of a farm or garden,
you must put at least a calorie back in'. In a typical year we harvest and
share over six-thousand pounds of produce. We have to replenish a huge amount
of organic-matter so our soils don't get depleted!”
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| Neighbors bring us grass! |
The
garden will accept most bagged leaves and grass clippings, with the following
exceptions: “no animal waste, trash or sticks/branches, no holly or roses (too
sharp), or black walnut leaves (they can kill plants). Also do not include diseased or insect-laden plant material. Just leaves and grass.
Thank you Edie and thank you to all the new and returning leaf-donors from this year!
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| Gratitude for garden support! |
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| Leaves to mulch the gardens in winter. |
For info about using wood-ashes and coffee grounds for fertility, CLICK HERE.
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| Adding wood ashes (and coffee grounds) for fertilizer. |
For info about making your own potting mix (soil) in your greenhouse paths - using worms, CLICK HERE
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| Grass-clippings in our greenhouse paths. |
