Are shredded leaves good to put on a garden over the winter?
by
DonR
+5
I have a bunch of (free) leaves that I am going to mow over and bag up or use the blower and suck up into a trash can (whatever is going to be easier) and was thinking about putting on my empty veg garden then till up in the spring. Will that work ok, or not? This garden has been a lot of work my first year back after 20+ years, and don't want to mess it up if it's going to attract stuff......Thanks for the input. Appreciate your time and effort to help out.
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Chopped up leaves are great for a garden! As long as you know that it just leaves and not any weeds mixed in!
Chop them up and toss them in the garden. They'll be great fertilizer.
I do it every year to my gardens, not just to my vegetable garden. In my veggie garden, I put at least four inches on it and till it in, if it seems to be too thick in the spring, I remove some into a pile and put them around my plants after they are planted to help hold in the moisture until we start mowing the lawn and I put down the cut grass. In the other gardens, I take some of it off it seems to be too thick and take it up to the veggie garden to use or put in my corner compost pile (can't have compost bins in our neighborhood, so I have an indescreeet pile in the garden). We have a blower/vacuum/shredder so it is easy to just vacuum up the leaves all fall and just put them in the gardens.
Generally, yes. If the leaves come from trees under which grass won’t grow, like magnolias or pines, don’t use them. If the trees and lawn beneath them grow successfully, then you will have good clipping to cover your garden. Best wishes! ☺️