What to do with all those leaves?!?
Now that the weather has turned and blown all of our leaves off our trees, we are faced with the fun task of raking them up and bagging and bagging and bagging. Or are we?
Get a head start on a new garden next spring by smothering it with TLC this fall while saving yourself the expense and hassle of lawn bags.
Have grass growing in your flower beds? Have an area of lawn you would like to turn into a flower bed or garden? For a no-dig, no-chemical way to prepare a new garden bed, click here.
If that’s not your thing, what are other ways to keep them out of the waste stream?
- Mulch them with the mower and let them improve your soil and enrich your lawn. Follow John fech’s advice and don’t let the mulch get more than an inch thick.
- Use them (shredded or intact) to mulch your flower and vegetable beds after the ground has frozen. This layer can be more than an inch thick.
- Add them to your compost pile. Yes, you can compost in the winter, it’s just slower than in summer. Shredding them first will speed decomposition.
- Make leaf mold. Leaf mold can enrich your house plants and top dress gardens as a slow release fertilizer. Click here for a video.