The leaves are falling, which implies it’s time to begin raking and determining what to do with them. This yr, attempt turning your fallen leaves into mulch to your backyard!
The next is an excerpt from Will Bonsall’s Important Information to Radical, Self-Reliant Gardening by Will Bonsall. It has been tailored for the online.
Images courtesy of Will Bonsall except in any other case famous.
Making Mulch With Fallen Leaves
For many who query the fertilizing energy of tree leaves, I’d share a few anecdotes. Though I’ve many acres of hardwood forest the place I might acquire my very own leaves, I often favor to haul them from the city of Farmington, 8 miles (12.9 km) away. I’m doing the individuals of Farmington a favour by hauling theirs away (the city used to do it however no extra), plus they’re already raked into piles, comparatively freed from twigs and branches.
After all I all the time ask the proprietor if I could take them, regardless that the response is predictably one thing like “What! Is the pope Catholic?” At one dwelling on a shady facet avenue,I requested the proprietor, an aged lady with an enthralling Austrian accent, and he or she answered graciously, “No, I would like them myself.” Intrigued, I requested wherefore, and he or she replied, “I would like them for my backyard.”
Making the Most of Fallen Leaves
The leaf dump holds incoming hundreds till I discover time to shred them.
Delighted, I probed additional. She, having no recognized ideological views on the topic, relied completely on the maple leaves as a result of they had been what she had—the shade-free portion of her yard was wholly occupied by her backyard, so there was little garden to provide grass clippings, and he or she had no entry to manure.
She had no formal system for shredding or composting; she merely stated: “I mull them over now and again.” That had been her “system” for years, and the heavy-feeding cabbages and leeks I noticed testified to her success. The massive pile of leaves in her yard was ready to be transformed into subsequent yr’s sauerkraut!
The Tales Behind Fallen Leaves
Second story: I as soon as persuaded the City of Farmington avenue commissioner that they need to truck their curbside leaves as much as my place slightly than to the city dump. Sure, he hastened to agree, it made good sense for everybody. The primary two truckloads landed in my leaf dump, and I congratulated myself that henceforth I’d merely await the annual windfall.
Subsequent yr they didn’t present up, so I requested the road commissioner, what provides? Nicely, it seems that they want them on the landfill. Want them? I repeated dumbly. Ayuh, it appears they want them so as to add to the cleanings of the fairground horse stables. Ah, says I knowingly, it’s to stability the surplus nitrogen within the manure.
Weeell, not fairly, he corrects me; it’s slightly that each one that sawdust bedding makes the piles chilly, regardless of the horse doo-doo. What! They’re utilizing “my” leaves to warmth up horse-hockey so it is going to be nicely composted? And does it? Yep, assured the commissioner with no irony supposed, works slick as shit. Now perceive, this good fellow was not a vegan, not into natural or sustainability—for all I do know he might be a Republican—but don’t attempt to inform him that leaves lack nitrogen.
Shredding Fallen Leaves
Many of the methods I exploit leaves require shredding, and that entails some sort of shredder. In my case I’ve an Amerind-MacKissick chipper/shredder designed to work as an attachment with my Gravely 12-horsepower strolling tractor, however the chipper/shredder will be powered by some other PTO supply or will be bought with its personal self-contained engine.
For chipping brush the 12 hp is actually wanted to perform something, however for shredding leaves a lighter energy supply is perhaps fairly ample. A bonus of mounting this shredder on one thing is that it’s simpler to maneuver about—by itself it’s cumbersome to maneuver any distance.
Shredding leaves is definitely worth the effort, as a result of the shreds is not going to blow across the backyard or wad up within the compost. {Photograph} courtesy of Yaicha Cowell-Sarofeen
Selecting A Shredder
My Gravely, by the best way, is an impressive machine, which might be why Gravely’s are now not made. As a result of such strolling tractors have a number of interchangeable attachments (mowers, snow blowers, tillers, and extra), you don’t must personal a number of engines, all of which require upkeep.
Then again that implies that if the one tractor is out of order, you can not do any of these jobs. Altering attachments is a slightly minor nuisance and mustn’t weigh very closely in opposition to that possibility.
Shredding Crop Crops and Leaves
The protection grating on my chipper/shredder received’t permit something lower than 3⁄4 inch (1.9 cm) in measurement to cross by, so the product has a really uniform consistency, excellent for making use of. I merely stroll down the paths with a big rubber barrel stuffed with shreds held on one shoulder and with my free hand create a blizzard of leaf confetti over the beds.
The crop crops are often a couple of inches tall, and the shreds drift down and calm down properly across the crops, making a good and efficient mulch with minimal effort. That’s why it’s important that they be constantly tremendous—confetti-like: in order that no clumps of complete leaves will smother the crop. Additionally, shredded leaves keep put in a breeze a lot better than complete leaves, particularly as soon as they’ve been moist and settle into a good “felt.”
Why Shred Fallen Leaves?
One more reason for shredding leaves is the twigs. Though I take away the bigger branches for chipping individually, most leaves have lots of tremendous twigs which are a nuisance to select, but I don’t need them left complete. That is particularly a difficulty with leaves collected within the forest or from lawns with large outdated bushes (those with deepest roots and thus higher trace-mineral content material). When fed by the shredder they’re decreased to innocent little chips that hassle nothing, though you could must pre-snap longer twigs in order that they don’t block the chute.
If I’m utilizing partly moist leaves they may plug up the grate, but when I take away the grate they’ll come out too quick, solely half shredded. Half shredded is okay so long as I can put them proper again by once more, giving me a product considerably just like the confetti, although not as uniform. For mulching paths and wider-spaced crops, and for making compost, that is fairly passable. (Bear in mind, as soon as the grate is eliminated, there’s nothing between you and the spinning hammer mills, so stand clear.)
Stockpiling and Storing Fallen Leaves
This rain-proof bin is about to obtain 2 tons (1.8 tonnes) of shredded dry leaves.
I must stockpile as a lot confetti as attainable after they’re crispy and dry, and so I race to shred these as quick as they arrive in, and pack them into a big (8 × 10 × 4-foot, or 2.4 × 3.0 × 1.2 m) lined plank bin that holds roughly 2 tons. If I’ve an actual lot of confetti, I can pack it into feed luggage and canopy them with a tarp in opposition to rain and snow. I exploit plenty of these banked up in opposition to the outside door of my cellar for insulation throughout the winter.
Different Methods to Shred Fallen Leaves
A well-powered chipper/shredder is the easiest way to shred leaves, however it isn’t the one means. My father used to pile his leaves up by the storage door and run by the pile repeatedly together with his push energy mower, stirring it up between passes. Cousin Tom makes his into a protracted, very deep pile (3 ft, or 0.9 m) and wades by it repeatedly together with his rototiller, regathering it because it spreads out.
And naturally, everyone knows the hands-down best means of shredding leaves: You collect all of them into an enormous pile in the course of the garden and inform your youngsters and all of the neighbour youngsters: “Keep out of this.” Inside hours the pile will probably be decreased to molecules. (To speed up the method you may grasp a used automobile tire from an overhead limb.)
Shredding Fallen Leaves: Consistency is Key
The issue with all these options is the dearth of consistency; some will probably be crushed to powder whereas some massive items will stay. This isn’t an enormous drawback for some makes use of (say, compost), however for mulching intently spaced crops, together with grain, the crude shreds are harder to use. For mulching extra wide-spaced crops, like cabbage and tomatoes, and for paths, the cruder shreds produced by a garden mower work nicely.
I typically find yourself with extra leaves than I can shred instantly. When I’ve run out of time I’ve additionally saved complete leaves unfastened in a hex-wire (aka hen wire) enclosed leaf dump, which I cowl with a well-weighted tarp. The leaves keep fairly dry till I can shred them the next spring or summer time.
Throughout this time the underside layer will get considerably damp from wicking floor moisture. If I’m brief on confetti the next spring, generally I simply unfold the dampish leaves out on a tarp to re-dry for some hours after which shred them, though often I simply use the crude technique, double-shredding with out the grate in place.
Fallen Leaves: To Shred Or To not Shred?
A point of shredding is important for composting leaves, as a result of complete leaves are likely to kind a soggy mat that may take eternally to interrupt down. In truth that was what received me into shredding within the first place: As a result of I might use solely skinny layers of complete leaves within the compost pile, I used to be all the time utilizing a lot lower than I wished, in proportion to the hay and different stuff.
As soon as shredded, leaves will be the key ingredient in my pile, fairly suitable with my eco-efficiency obsession. Certainly, except for leaves and brushwood, my composting of corn, sunflower, and amaranth stalks could be very troublesome with out first shredding them. By decreasing the amount and exposing extra floor of these supplies, I tremendously improve the speed of decay, plus the organic warmth that renders a superior finish product.
Really useful Reads
Mulching 101: Why Mulch Issues
Flip Fallen Leaves into Gardener’s Gold