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T.C. Conner, The Write Gardener
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Discussion
Should you just leave leaves alone?
LEAVES are about the only good things I get from the changing of the season. I don’t look forward to cold weather, snow, sunless days, or driving on icy roads.
I use leaves as a natural soil additive and you should, too.
Take a walk through the woods on any given summer day and you can see what leaves help to accomplish: Growth. Lush green growth of wildflowers, native shrubs, ferns and moss; and of course, all those trees are nurtured by their own decomposed leaves. It always surprises me to see so many folks burning their leaves at this time of year when they could be using them to enrich the soil in their gardens and flower beds. Adding decomposed leaf matter improves the organic content of soil, keeping it healthy and friable.
There’s a couple of ways you can go about composting your leaves: Mowing and/or stowing. If you have a mulching blade on your mower, make a couple of passes over leaves and – presto! – instant leaf mulch.
If you’d rather wait, collect them in large plastic garbage bags, poke holes in the bags, and stow them in the backyard. It may take a while, but the bagged leaves will decompose over time and you can then use the leaf mold in your garden and flower beds.
When you’re mulching with chopped and/or shredded leaves, you’re not using composted leaves. The chopped leaf litter you’ve used as mulch will break down and become compost, adding nutrients back to the soil around your mulched plants once the decomposing process is complete. This usually takes a short amount of time if you’ve chopped finely enough.
When you’re mulching with composted leaf litter, you’re adding a dose of instant fertilizer for your soil, not your plants. Decomposed leaves release nutrients back into the soil, helping to keep it healthy for your garden plants. Healthy soil is usually equivalent to healthy plants. And healthy plants don’t require as much attention from us in order to thrive and be productive in the landscape. (Decomposed leaf matter is not a good source of nutrients for plants; it’s much more beneficial as a soil additive.)
I don’t rake leaves, and since my mower quit on me over the weekend, I’m not sure if or when I’ll get my leaf litter chopped. Luckily, the leaves from the one large tree in my backyard (a wild cherry tree) aren’t much of a problem because they’re small and recent winds have blown and scattered them, preventing any piling in one spot.
Heavier and larger leaf litter from oak trees is more of a problem if you allow the leaves to smother grasses. Oak leaves and acorns contain tannin, the bitter substance in acorns that when tasted causes you to curl your lips. After leaf drop, tannin is quickly neutralized, making the use of composted oak leaves safe for the garden. However, allowing large leaves of any kind to remain on top of grasses and flower beds could cause problems, especially if leaves get wet and soggy.
If you want to go the extra mile, you can make a simple containment area for your leaves, use rabbit fencing or wire mesh to enclose an area 3 feet wide by about 4 feet high. Strengthen the sides using strips of leftover wood you have lying around the shed.
Remember, this isn’t your usual compost bin – you’ll not be adding any kitchen scraps to your leaf compost pile, but you will want to add a little water from time to time. It can take up to 10 months for the decomposing process to finish, but adding a high-nitrogen fertilizer can speed it up a bit. Add about a half-cup of 10-percent nitrogen fertilizer to your leaf pile once it’s reached about three feet in height.
Turn or mix your pile periodically, move outer materials closer to the center, as this adds oxygen and aids in decomposition. If you don’t notice heat emanating from your pile within a few weeks, you’ve either added too much or not enough water; are mixing and turning too infrequently; the materials may be tightly packed; or your pile may be too small.
Your finished leaf compost will be dark and crumbly, and won’t look anything like the leaves you started with. It should have an earthy odor. Leaf compost is usually used to increase the nutrient content of garden and flower bed soils, and is not considered to be a good fertilizer used as such on its own.
I might not take to winter as well as I once did, but I know it’s a necessary season. I also know that trees will grow new leaves in spring, as they have been doing for millennia. And leaf drop will occur again, providing me, and you, with free compost, sustaining my garden, and yours, through another growing season.
T.C. Conner is a Master Gardener and columnist for Allied News. He can be reached at tc@thewritegardener.com. Check out his blog at http://the writegardener.blogspot.com. Published November 11, 2009 in Allied News. Pick up a copy at 201A Erie St., Grove City.
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