Mulching Time Is Here!
By webeishere
@webeishere (36313)
United States
October 27, 2008 3:41pm CST
Well with the high winds here in Minnesota recently my trees are toatoally void of leaves. Most of them get raked and bagged for disposal until this year. I am placing a lot in the back yard to use as compost. A lot are raked and placed lightly on top of my perrenial bed in the front of my hopuse. This is where my hardy perrenials are at. Lilies, Hostas etc. It is not wise to leave whole leaves as a mulch around and on top of most perrenials as when the ground thatws the plants may break as they try to push through the hard wet leaves. But hardy perrenials push easily so this is why just this one area is mulchedf with whole leaves. Do you use your fallen leaves as a mulch? Do you use them as compost at all?
HAPPY POSTINGS FROM GRANDPA BOB !!~
4 people like this
13 responses
@scarlet_woman (23465)
• United States
28 Oct 08
some of them i do,but there's just too many.
our neighbor's gigantic trees drop their load into my yard instead of theirs,so i have mine + theirs to deal with.i do keep a good amount of it though.
@webeishere (36313)
• United States
28 Oct 08
Do you have a compost pile then?
HAPPY POSTINGS FROM GRANDPA BOB !!~
1 person likes this
@scarlet_woman (23465)
• United States
28 Oct 08
yes-we have a big hopper that was built in the back.
it's usually full to bursting with the blow over from the next yard.
we're thinking of making a second one.
@webeishere (36313)
• United States
27 Oct 08
Wish my neighors did that.
HAPPY POSTINGS FROM GRANDPA BOB !!~
@creematee (2810)
• United States
28 Oct 08
With my neighbors... they would rake the leaves into my yard! ARGH!
@creematee (2810)
• United States
28 Oct 08
Hi Bob!
Our leaves get raked into a giant pile into the middle of my vegetable garden. We do this every fall, and every spring, I curse and shout, why on earth did we do it? The leaves are so thick and heavy, nearly impossible to move.
I have decided, though, that we're going to plant the potatoes in the leaf pile in the spring, and not in the dirt. Above ground taters. They should grow better since they don't have that rich Iowa dirt to push out of the way, and absolutely no weed, since they're growing in 2 feet of mulch! What do you think? Above ground potatoes??
@tyc415 (5706)
• United States
27 Oct 08
Since our trees are different down here in the south we don't have all those fallen leaves like up north. Right now we just have a few leaves turning and falling off and all the other are green. One of our trees still had a few leaves on it when spring come around. So no, our leaves are not used as mulch.
1 person likes this
@webeishere (36313)
• United States
27 Oct 08
Minehave just about covered the fopundation really.
There are a lot in this photo.
Hard to tell really.
But if I stand in the mess it reaches mid calf.
HAPPY POSTINGS FROM GRANDPA BOB !!~
@carmelanirel (20942)
• United States
27 Oct 08
I also heard that using whole leaves are not good.so I use the leaves that are cut up after I cut it with the mower..Some leaves are raked down to the curb for the truck to come by. And I still have enough to go around my trees and compost, so I guess I do a little of everything..
1 person likes this
@tamarafireheart (15384)
•
28 Oct 08
Hi GRANDPA BOB,
No, my husband is not a gardening type at all and I cannot manage it as I am disable and cannot do it on my own so we don't. My garden is a low maintance garden and mostly have pot plants in it and boarder shrubs. I do try to put some leaves in some areas of the garden which have earth,
Tamara
1 person likes this
@mtdewgurl74 (18151)
• United States
28 Oct 08
I have used leaves as mulch several times.It is great to use it even when planting to use in the potting mix. I haven't used it as mulch in a few years though. I need to cause my yearly flowers were looking a mighty peaked this year. I also usually use a fertilizer but this year I didn't get to mess with m garden and flowers as much as I did in the past.
@checapricorn (16061)
• United States
28 Oct 08
[i]Hi Grandpa B,
I may be doing thsi after reading your post..LOL! This time, I am not doing anything since it's been very cold outside and I even don't like to go out but you remind me about starting the soil get better for the next gardening season! LOL![/i]
@blackbriar (9076)
• United States
28 Oct 08
The leaves in my yard are usually piled 4' high on top of my perennials, layered into the garden, and then any left gets chopped up with the mulcher mower to fertilize the lawn.
@CatsandDogs (13963)
• United States
28 Oct 08
Yeah we mulch them and let them lie there on the ground to feed the grass. We have so much leaves that we're overwelmed with the amount that we have to cut them up as they fall to keep up with them or they'll get caught up in our lawn mowers blades. That's one of the down falls of living in the country but I still wouldn't trade it for anything in this world!
@gemini_rose (16264)
•
28 Oct 08
No I do not use the fallen leaves as mulch, although I could as I have enough leaves in the garden. We have two huge trees in our garden and a smaller one too, but we just sweep them up and put them out for the bin men in the special bags that they provide.
@mentalward (14691)
• United States
4 Nov 08
Yep, I use them. The leaves are nature's way of protecting the plants under the trees so I think it's kinda stupid to rake them all up! One lawn mowing after they've all fallen will crush up the leaves and provide mulch for the grass.
I learned a little trick that helps the leaves to break down faster besides mowing the lawn. Put them in a large trash can and stick a weed whacker in there. It shreds them down to much smaller pieces. They make a heavier mulch for flower beds and they break down faster to become compost.
Kind of a sad time of year, huh? It's all going to sleep for the winter. I'm going to miss working in the dirt and Spring is so far away! 
