lazycompost.com

Gardening organically since 1968

3 Things To Do With Your Leaves

Leaves are a valuable resource

Open Copyright Pam Walatka

Your leaves are golden. Rather than send them out with the trash, keep them in your yard as valuable soil conditioners and mulch. Here are three things you can do with leaves.

1. Leaf Mold Rake your leaves into a pile and let them sit until they turn into dirt. The dirt they turn into is called leaf mold and is a wonderful soil conditioner. Dig it into your garden beds as you would compost. The breakdown method is a bit different from compost--it works by fungus instead of bacteria--but the results are similar: soil that contains beneficial organisms and structures from previously living things. The soil on earth is made of things that used to be alive. You need life to make earth and earth to make life.

   Bring your patience. This process takes about 3 years. Once you get it going, you have a supply of premium soil for free. Plus your piled-up leaves provide a nice space for pollinators such as butterflies to reproduce. I make a separate pile for each year.

   The fungi that break down your leaves are mycorrhizal--that is, they work with the root system of your plants to enhance plant nutrition, soil biology, and soil chemistry. By making leaf mold, you make a contribution to your gaqrden and to the planet.

2. Mulch Rake them onto your garden beds as mulch. Or leave them where they lie. Also, you can mulch with partially-broken down leaves from a pile you made previously.

   Details: the leaves that land on our deck are raked onto the adjacent area to become mulch for our fruit trees. The leaves that land in our driveway get raked into a pile to make leaf mold. All the rest are left where they fall.

   My sister piles leaves on her rose garden and never adds anything else. Her roses are awesome.

   I mean, go ahead and mulch trees and bushes with freshly-fallen leaves. Use partially broken-down leaves to mulch around smaller plants.

3. Compost You can add a few to your compost pile. Last year I added too many. They clumped together and kept my compost from breaking down in the normal time.

(I guess another thing would be to let a kid jump in them.)

See also my other pages

	The Invasiveness of Native Plant People
	Pam's Yoga Fitness--free online yoga
	Esalen in the 1960s