Should you just leave leaves alone?

Community

Related Photos

T.C. Conner, The Write Gardener

Discussion

November 17, 2009

Anonymous Allied News Tue Nov 17, 2009, 11:27 PM EST

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.

Text Only

Community

New Allied columnist begins
Happy New Year to everyone! Did you make a New Year's resolution? I did but I'm not telling what it is; in case I don't do it then nobody will know.

January 27, 2012 1 Photo
Emmy Lou Holtz
Harrisville is a unique little town! To quote my friend, Bob Barnes, "There is no better place to live than Harrisville and the surrounding area."

January 11, 2012 1 Photo
Creativity launches repurposed rocket
Will it take off? No.
But, to these junior astronauts that really doesn't matter.
Nicholas 5, and Lucas, 3, are the flight crew for the N-L rocket on Marstellar Road, Fairview Township.

January 10, 2012 2 Photos
2nd-place glorified rice a family favorite
Lucinda "Cindy" Kennedy remembers learning to cook and bake with her grandmothers and mother like it was yesterday.
"This was my maternal grandmother's recipe," the Harrisville woman said as she described glorified rice, a creamy dish dotted with maraschino cherries and crushed pineapple.

December 13, 2011 1 Photo
Harrisville budget includes sewer rate increase but no new taxes
Harrisville borough council this month approved the proposed 2012 budgets and took action to advertise the availability of the budgets to be reviewed at the borough office. Secretary Linda Wegner read the proposed budget for the sanitary sewer system fund, highway fund, fire tax fund and general fund.
The general fund budget does not have any real estate tax increase and the sanitary sewer system fund budget has a proposed $1 per EDU per month increase for 2012.

December 6, 2011 1 Photo
Leave whimsical garden items for Old Man Winter
In the latest edition of Keystone Wild!Notes editor Jessica Sprajcar says, "Fall marks the prelude to a cold, white, winter, but it also signifies the ever changing, ever impressive nature of the environment."
I think gardeners are extremely in tune with the changing seasons, we have to be.
But the one settling in on us now might be the hardest to endure. What's a gardener to do to keep her outdoorsy self busy during winter?

December 1, 2011 2 Photos
Celebration concert Tuesday will include 'the Celeb'
The Celebration Ringers have practiced and polished their skills to prepare for their community handbell holiday concert at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Tower Presbyterian Church on Broad Street in Grove City.
Members hail from Slippery Rock, Grove City and Mercer, along with a Grove City College student from Ohio, and many are also members of church bell choirs.
"We just really love to ring!" said Donna "DJ" Wagner, a member of the Celebration Ringers as well as a GCC physics professor.

December 1, 2011 1 Photo
Returning military chaplains face special challenges
Among the thousands of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan coming home by the end of the year, about 450 are military chaplains, most serving in the U.S. Army. Their experience in the field is unique among soldiers, so when they return they may face unique emotional burdens.

November 23, 2011
Historical society rooms open
Saturday was an exciting day at the Grove City Area Historical Society when more than 100 people attended the open house and dedication of 13 rooms on the second floor.
Each room represents a segment of the community, such as Grove City College, churches, veterans, community organizations, industrial, schools, businesses, a typical hotel room, agriculture, Scouting, real estate and maps.

November 19, 2011 1 Photo
Women at Faith event experience 'God's medicine'
Aromatherapy dates back to Bible days.
"Some of us like to believe that true aromatherapy is God's medicine," said Diane Miller, an aromatherapist and founder of Miller's Lakeside Earth Oils in Transfer.
Miller was the keynote speaker at Faith Gospel Fellowship Church in Leesburg for the church's annual Women Encouraging Women event on Nov. 5.

November 16, 2011 2 Photos
More Community Headlines

Community

Search Results

Related Photos

Discussion

Should you just leave leaves alone?

Site Map