Using Leaves to Make Homemade Mulch!
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Date: 2022-07-16
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Comments and reviews: 9
Pamela
I did this at my parents' house yesterday. Oak leaves are very resistant to shredding. My Toro leaf blower-mulcher just didn't cut it. Ended up blowing the leaves into giant piles and mowing over them multiple times and then sucking them up with the leaf mulcher. Made a huge difference. Put the leaves mainly around the newer trees and shrubs. Northern IL winters can be nasty, and after such a brutally hot & dry year, this gives me some peace of mind going into winter. I didn't bother with blood meal, so we'll see how it goes. I read that should be used in spring (don't want to encourage growth now) and it's only effective as animal repellant when dry. :-/
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I did this at my parents' house yesterday. Oak leaves are very resistant to shredding. My Toro leaf blower-mulcher just didn't cut it. Ended up blowing the leaves into giant piles and mowing over them multiple times and then sucking them up with the leaf mulcher. Made a huge difference. Put the leaves mainly around the newer trees and shrubs. Northern IL winters can be nasty, and after such a brutally hot & dry year, this gives me some peace of mind going into winter. I didn't bother with blood meal, so we'll see how it goes. I read that should be used in spring (don't want to encourage growth now) and it's only effective as animal repellant when dry. :-/
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roger
Hi in the UK/Britain we also make leaf mould! Its much like compost in that you would put it into a compost bay and leave it for a year or in smaller gardens you can bag it up in black plastic bags and poke some holes in with a garden fork. The leaf mould that results in a years time is excellent for improving soil for woodland type plants that you mayPlant in shade its also good to mix with saved garden soil to start seeds in. You probably know this its just that you didnt mention it in your video.
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Hi in the UK/Britain we also make leaf mould! Its much like compost in that you would put it into a compost bay and leave it for a year or in smaller gardens you can bag it up in black plastic bags and poke some holes in with a garden fork. The leaf mould that results in a years time is excellent for improving soil for woodland type plants that you mayPlant in shade its also good to mix with saved garden soil to start seeds in. You probably know this its just that you didnt mention it in your video.
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Janet
Thank you. I too took my leaves and added them to the raised beds. I will add the grass in the spring, maybe in April. Last year was my first time here and tried no dig gardening. I used moving boxes to cover the 20 year old weeds. This year I will dig only where I put seeds or seedlings, using the layer of leaves and grass to stop the weed growth. I like no dig gardening. Everything came up well, without weeding. I prefer leaves and grass instead of cardboard (chemicals) to stop weed growth.
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Thank you. I too took my leaves and added them to the raised beds. I will add the grass in the spring, maybe in April. Last year was my first time here and tried no dig gardening. I used moving boxes to cover the 20 year old weeds. This year I will dig only where I put seeds or seedlings, using the layer of leaves and grass to stop the weed growth. I like no dig gardening. Everything came up well, without weeding. I prefer leaves and grass instead of cardboard (chemicals) to stop weed growth.
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evolutionfilms1
I'm sorry to say but. leaves are the worst to use as mulch. We did that for some years now and only recently i did a clean up in my backyard garden and under the leaves i got snails. beatles. centipedes and SNAKES! Now that its all cleaned up guess what? The insects have no place to live anymore. so they migrated to the neighbour's leaf mulched garden! Also, the roots in all my trees can now breathe and all my plants and trees are now doing well! I am happy i did this.
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I'm sorry to say but. leaves are the worst to use as mulch. We did that for some years now and only recently i did a clean up in my backyard garden and under the leaves i got snails. beatles. centipedes and SNAKES! Now that its all cleaned up guess what? The insects have no place to live anymore. so they migrated to the neighbour's leaf mulched garden! Also, the roots in all my trees can now breathe and all my plants and trees are now doing well! I am happy i did this.
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Plants
Its great to educate people on
in-home use of leaves, rather than seeing them bagged up and removed. Leaf mold creation adds great benefit to garden beds. Even the grass will benefit from a fine covering of leaves(not too thick)
I have a chopped leaf bin next to my compost unit. Each time I add kitchen waste, I cover it with a generous layer of those leaves.
I also have a compost unit dedicated to making leaf mold. Mulching with chopped leaves is invaluable.
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Its great to educate people on
in-home use of leaves, rather than seeing them bagged up and removed. Leaf mold creation adds great benefit to garden beds. Even the grass will benefit from a fine covering of leaves(not too thick)
I have a chopped leaf bin next to my compost unit. Each time I add kitchen waste, I cover it with a generous layer of those leaves.
I also have a compost unit dedicated to making leaf mold. Mulching with chopped leaves is invaluable.
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Robin
We live in a little wooded area with pine trees all around us, so of course, we have tons of pine needles everywhere. I've heard so many things about them such as they will kill the plants in your garden. I've not experienced that, although my garden is not producing as well as it used to. I want to try raised beds so I can better control what is in them. Would you talk about the effects of pine needles and if you can use them like you did your leaves in this video?
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We live in a little wooded area with pine trees all around us, so of course, we have tons of pine needles everywhere. I've heard so many things about them such as they will kill the plants in your garden. I've not experienced that, although my garden is not producing as well as it used to. I want to try raised beds so I can better control what is in them. Would you talk about the effects of pine needles and if you can use them like you did your leaves in this video?
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E.
This video rocked my world. I have spent several weeks watching videos and reading articles about composting. I have felt so intimidated about the whole thing especially how to build or buy a composter, which can be very expensive. I don't know why, but I never thought to just use my raised beds as a kind of composter! It is so obvious and so simple the way you did it. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
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This video rocked my world. I have spent several weeks watching videos and reading articles about composting. I have felt so intimidated about the whole thing especially how to build or buy a composter, which can be very expensive. I don't know why, but I never thought to just use my raised beds as a kind of composter! It is so obvious and so simple the way you did it. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
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handmade
For my flower beds, I lay some leaves and then dump the soil from my pots on top. Sort of like lasagna. This helps keeps the leaves from blowing. I also literally put leaves in plastic garbage cans cause I have too many. The blood meal is a great idea. If I don't have any blood meal, could I use grass fertilizer - it's the only high nitrogen amendment I have handy.
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For my flower beds, I lay some leaves and then dump the soil from my pots on top. Sort of like lasagna. This helps keeps the leaves from blowing. I also literally put leaves in plastic garbage cans cause I have too many. The blood meal is a great idea. If I don't have any blood meal, could I use grass fertilizer - it's the only high nitrogen amendment I have handy.
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snaggybeans
Oh my word I love that view through your willow branches. I miss that setting where we can see your willow sway in the background while you do a project on a table. Also, seeing the way Russel tried to kill your arm while you were digging the garlic trench, I'm thinking he was the bird killer---hopefully he's getting some voles and gophers too then!
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Oh my word I love that view through your willow branches. I miss that setting where we can see your willow sway in the background while you do a project on a table. Also, seeing the way Russel tried to kill your arm while you were digging the garlic trench, I'm thinking he was the bird killer---hopefully he's getting some voles and gophers too then!
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