As a new gardener in soon-to-freeze Midwest, I have noticed the
following irony: We as well as our neighbors are raking bags upon bags
of autumn leaves from the front and back yards and discarding them. At
the same time we are buying mulch to protect newly planted perennials
during the winter.

An obvious question is, could we use those leaves as mulch? I get
enough to make as thick a layer as needed?

In article , Newbie
wrote:

As a new gardener in soon-to-freeze Midwest, I have noticed the
following irony: We as well as our neighbors are raking bags upon bags
of autumn leaves from the front and back yards and discarding them. At
the same time we are buying mulch to protect newly planted perennials
during the winter.

An obvious question is, could we use those leaves as mulch? I get
enough to make as thick a layer as needed?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_material

Don¹t let the reference to vitalism throw you.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goethe

Still on gardening.

http://www.gardening.cornell.edu/factsheets.html

Such a simple question with myriad answers. Best answered by trial
and error with extended family help if possible. Local agriculture folks
may be of interest.

Bottom line. Anything once alive is great for your soil and anything
that passed through a digestive system is better. This of course is
based on the premise you want to encourage life and leave the soil
better than you found it for future life.

Bottom Bottom line is Yes on using leaves as mulch for frost
protection but you may have increased rodent damage .

Bill

--
Garden in shade zone 5 S Jersey USA

On 13/11/08 18:53, Newbie wrote:
As a new gardener in soon-to-freeze Midwest, I have noticed the
following irony: We as well as our neighbors are raking bags upon bags
of autumn leaves from the front and back yards and discarding them. At
the same time we are buying mulch to protect newly planted perennials
during the winter.

An obvious question is, could we use those leaves as mulch? I get
enough to make as thick a layer as needed?

Y r u bothering to rake those leaves up? What harm they doing to u? Y
not let em lay and rot as nature intended?

Ed

Ed ex@directory wrote:
Newbie wrote:

As a new gardener in soon-to-freeze Midwest, I have noticed the
following irony: We as well as our neighbors are raking bags upon bags
of autumn leaves from the front and back yards and discarding them. At
the same time we are buying mulch to protect newly planted perennials
during the winter.

An obvious question is, could we use those leaves as mulch? I get
enough to make as thick a layer as needed?

Y r u bothering to rake those leaves up? �What harm they doing to u? �Y
not let em lay and rot as nature intended?

Y r u incapable of analytical thought, that perhaps there's a lawn
under the trees, that the leaves would b best used as mulch in the
perennial beds to protect new plantings rather than b left to kill the
lawn. Obviously your response is indicative of someone too lazy to
rake leaves... I bet you tell your mommy why do I have to clean my
room, why can't I just leave my filthy clothes to rot on the floor.

When I lived in the midwest, I raked all leaves to the back of my yard
where there was partial shade and piled them up in a long ridge. In
spring I planted impatiens in the leaves and had a long mound of
impatiens flowering all summer.

In my current yard, I don't have enough leaves to rake. I just let
them lay where they fall and they get mowed in next spring.

Janet

In article , Nobody wrote:

As a new gardener in soon-to-freeze Midwest, I have noticed the
following irony: We as well as our neighbors are raking bags upon bags
of autumn leaves from the front and back yards and discarding them. At
the same time we are buying mulch to protect newly planted perennials
during the winter.

An obvious question is, could we use those leaves as mulch? I get
enough to make as thick a layer as needed?

An obvious "yes." Rake the leaves evenly into garden areas where they'll
break down feeding microorganisms which in turn produce additional
nutrients, all the while suppressing suppress weeds. It's even an
attractive mulch and the decay of leaves is a most plesant smell.

I have several trees but never enough leaves. This week I've been down the
block cleaning leaves off sidewalks, putting them in big buckets, bringing
them home to put on fallow areas of the gardens. Can't get enough of that
wonderful stuff.

-paghat the ratgirl
--
visit my temperate gardening website:
http://www.paghat.com
visit my film reviews website:
http://www.weirdwildrealm.com

On 11/13/2008 10:53 AM, Newbie wrote:
As a new gardener in soon-to-freeze Midwest, I have noticed the
following irony: We as well as our neighbors are raking bags upon bags
of autumn leaves from the front and back yards and discarding them. At
the same time we are buying mulch to protect newly planted perennials
during the winter.

An obvious question is, could we use those leaves as mulch? I get
enough to make as thick a layer as needed?

Where I live, a real freeze happens maybe once in 15 years. The soil
never freezes.

In front of my house, I created a layer of leaves about 6 inches thick
around my valley white oak (Quercus lobata) and then covered it with
poultry mesh (chicken wire) anchored into the soil. Western oaks suffer
when they don't have a thick leaf mulch. The mesh keeps the leaves from
blowing away in our Santa Ana wind storms (when gusts of 60 mph are
possible).

Also in front, I leave most of the leaves on my front "lawn" alone. The
lawn is actually a ground cover -- pink clover (Persicaria capitata).
Today, I raked along the edges just to make it look a bit neater. The
leaves I removed are now mulching part of my back yard.

In back, the rose, west, and teardrop beds all have a good growth of
ground covers, either the pink clover or cinquefoil (Potentilla
neumanniana). These shade the soil, conserving moisture, keeping the
soil cool in summer, and discouraging weeds. However, I do not plan to
have any ground cover in the east and circular beds. There, I am
accumulating leaf mulch to serve in place of ground covers. I place
small branches that have fallen from my trees over the leaves to hold
them in place.

I will, of course, rake the back lawn when my evergreen ash (Fraxinus
uhdei) drops its leaves (not being truly evergreen). Otherwise the
leaves will be thick enough to smother the red fescue that serves as my
lawn. Much of those leaves will also be used in my east and circular
beds. The excess will go into my compost pile, which is actually more
leafmold than compost.

Only one bed in back has neither ground cover nor leaf mulch. My
camellia bed is mulched with the output of my office shredder. The
camellias seem to thrive with this mulch, which mats down and is not
affected by winds.

--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean
Sunset Zone: 21 -- interior Santa Monica Mountains with some ocean
influence (USDA 10a, very close to Sunset Zone 19)
Gardening pages at http://www.rossde.com/garden/

paghat wrote:
In article , Nobody wrote:

As a new gardener in soon-to-freeze Midwest, I have noticed the
following irony: We as well as our neighbors are raking bags upon bags
of autumn leaves from the front and back yards and discarding them. At
the same time we are buying mulch to protect newly planted perennials
during the winter.

An obvious question is, could we use those leaves as mulch? I get
enough to make as thick a layer as needed?

An obvious "yes." Rake the leaves evenly into garden areas where they'll
break down feeding microorganisms which in turn produce additional
nutrients, all the while suppressing suppress weeds. It's even an
attractive mulch and the decay of leaves is a most plesant smell.

I have several trees but never enough leaves. This week I've been down the
block cleaning leaves off sidewalks, putting them in big buckets, bringing
them home to put on fallow areas of the gardens. Can't get enough of that
wonderful stuff.

-paghat the ratgirl

Better yet, look for your neighbors who have vacuumed up their leaves
with a lawn mower. You get a dual benefit here. The leaves get chopped
up and mixed with some grass (green component for mulch to go with the
brown leaves).

I normally do not use a grass catcher. but let the mulch blade on my
mower cut it up and allow it to fall on the lawn. However, I try to
time my last cut of the year using the catcher to vacuum up the leaves.
It is much more efficient than raking. I take the vacummed content to
my three mulch piles to add to the treasure I have gleaned from my
neighbors. Several villages around me actually pay waste collectors to
take away their leaves for possible reuse at a compost facility. I
wonder if anyone has calculated how much energy is being removed from
the lawns of households with a fair amount of leaf fall.

By the way, just piling whole leaves into a mound or into a compost
bin without cutting them up really slows down the decomposition process.
I used to do that and found the leaves sticking together, not allowing
moisture and air ciculation to do their job. It took twice as long for
those leaves to break down as compared to chopped up leaves.

Sherwin

I'm in the UK where most gardeners either gather up leaves and put them into black plastic bags with some holes in or into a kind of pen made with chicken wire. They are eventually put back onto the garden when they have broken down (one or two years here). I don't leave many leaves on borders, because smaller plants often rot underneath them and never any on lawns. I mulch with well-rotted compost.

On Nov 13, 1:53*pm, Newbie wrote:
As a new gardener in soon-to-freeze Midwest, I have noticed the
following irony: We as well as our neighbors are raking bags upon bags
of autumn leaves from the front and back yards and discarding them. At
the same time we are buying mulch to protect newly planted perennials
during the winter.

An obvious question is, could we use those leaves as mulch? I get
enough to make as thick a layer as needed?

I live in the midwest as well. You shouldn't use your leaves as mulch
because they tend to develop mold & you'll just have continuing
problems on your hands.

On Nov 14, 4:05�pm, Jessica Mae wrote:
On Nov 13, 1:53�pm, Newbie wrote:

As a new gardener in soon-to-freeze Midwest, I have noticed the
following irony: We as well as our neighbors are raking bags upon bags
of autumn leaves from the front and back yards and discarding them. At
the same time we are buying mulch to protect newly planted perennials
during the winter.

An obvious question is, could we use those leaves as mulch? I get
enough to make as thick a layer as needed?

I live in the midwest as well. You shouldn't use your leaves as mulch
because they tend to develop mold & you'll just have continuing
problems on your hands.

Nonsense, mold spores are in the ground (and everywhere) anyway.

In article
,
Jessica Mae wrote:

On Nov 13, 1:53*pm, Newbie wrote:
As a new gardener in soon-to-freeze Midwest, I have noticed the
following irony: We as well as our neighbors are raking bags upon bags
of autumn leaves from the front and back yards and discarding them. At
the same time we are buying mulch to protect newly planted perennials
during the winter.

An obvious question is, could we use those leaves as mulch? I get
enough to make as thick a layer as needed?

I live in the midwest as well. You shouldn't use your leaves as mulch
because they tend to develop mold & you'll just have continuing
problems on your hands.

May Your Life Be Sweet And Simple 3:15 Blue Highway Midnight Storm
Country 2 10/3/08 5:55 PM MPEG audio file 1998

Sings of wet leaves and more.

Bill

--
Garden in shade zone 5 S Jersey USA

"Jessica Mae" wrote in message
...
An obvious question is, could we use those leaves as mulch? I get
enough to make as thick a layer as needed?

I live in the midwest as well. You shouldn't use your leaves as mulch
because they tend to develop mold & you'll just have continuing
problems on your hands.

ALL dead plant material will develop mould unless you live in a very arid
place, it's a key part of the way that natural recycling works regardless of
being in the midwest or not. There may be some cases where some unwanted
moulds are spread by some organic mulch but as a general rule this is not a
problem. Ignore this advice, leaf litter is very suitable mulch and any
risks do not outweigh the benefits.

David

In article , Janet Conroy
wrote:


I'm in the UK where most gardeners either gather up leaves and put them
into black plastic bags with some holes in or into a kind of pen made
with chicken wire. They are eventually put back onto the garden when
they have broken down (one or two years here). I don't leave many
leaves on borders, because smaller plants often rot underneath them and
never any on lawns. I mulch with well-rotted compost.

I used to do this and there's nothing better than a black crumbly leafmold
to top soil, it's so rich and dark looking. It's not nutrient rich, but it
encourages micro organisms of the best sorts. I'd put it in garbage bags
making sure it was a little moist and had some whiteworms in it
(whiteworms are a miniscule earthworth very common in leaflitter in
autumn) and it would usually take two years to become pure black crumbly
leafmold. Left out in the garden, though, the leaves break down into
leafmold by spring, so now I don't bother to bag up leaves.

-paghat the ratgirl
--
visit my temperate gardening website:
http://www.paghat.com
visit my film reviews website:
http://www.weirdwildrealm.com

In article
,
Jessica Mae wrote:

On Nov 13, 1:53=A0pm, Newbie wrote:
As a new gardener in soon-to-freeze Midwest, I have noticed the
following irony: We as well as our neighbors are raking bags upon bags
of autumn leaves from the front and back yards and discarding them. At
the same time we are buying mulch to protect newly planted perennials
during the winter.

An obvious question is, could we use those leaves as mulch? I get
enough to make as thick a layer as needed?

I live in the midwest as well. You shouldn't use your leaves as mulch
because they tend to develop mold & you'll just have continuing
problems on your hands.

Been a while since I've heard anything that silly. Incorrect garden lore
is worth collecting. Someone should write a book just about the dumb
things people are convinced are true about their gardens. I'm sure we all
have one of these dumb ideas stuck in our heads, so don't feel too bad,
just get rid of it now that you know it's pure hog hoohoo.

-paghat the ratgirl
--
visit my temperate gardening website:
http://www.paghat.com
visit my film reviews website:
http://www.weirdwildrealm.com