Leaves in fall
by
Tom
+3
do the leaves that your trees shed in the fall make good fertilizer for your garden?
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yep leaves are good for the soil.
Some are better than others. Oak not so much. What you want to do is make a compost pile. Leaves, grass clippings, etc. get it hot, to kill the weed seeds, turn it over once in a while, add a little water then next year you have great compost for your garden.
Yes, bag them up and make some holes tie the top and leave over winter.
There are some leaves you should not use without composting them first. i.e. black walnut, oak, and others. They have natural tannins that discourage other plants from surviving.
We have a blower/vacuum/shredder and I put the leaves from our huge mature trees in my gardens each fall. The veggie garden gets the most, anywhere up to six inches. In the spring I remove some of the excess to a pile in the corner and till the rest in. When I am done planting I take from the pile in the corner to put around all the plants to use as mulch to retain moisture until the grass starts getting cut and I add that to mulch the garden. Any extra leaves are left in the corner to break down completely over time and it is covered by the squash plants that have a quarter of the garden so it doesn't show.
So are the grass clippings from mowing.