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Use leaves as mulch


Tips On Using Leaf Litter For Mulch

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Mulch

By: Bonnie L. Grant, Certified Urban Agriculturist

Image by James Andrews

Many gardeners view the piles of dropped autumn leaves as a nuisance. Perhaps this is due to the labor involved in raking them up or it might be simple ennui as the season changes and cold weather makes its approach. Either way, dead leaves should actually be looked upon as a boon. Leaf litter mulch in gardens has numerous attributes and mulching with leaves is an inexpensive and renewable way to achieve garden gold. Read on for some interesting leaf mulch info to get you composting that spent foliage and cleaning up the yard.

What is Leaf Mulch?

Mulch is any material that is placed atop the soil to moderate its environment and enhance the landscape. There are many types of mulch, and leaf mulch is comprised of exactly what it sounds like, leaves. This organic mulch will decompose and needs to be replaced eventually but, in the meantime, it improves the soil’s fertility and its organic content. Mulching with leaves is a win/win in many situations where you want more rapid decomposition and is generally a free commodity to anyone that has deciduous trees.

The avid gardener spends quality time amending his or her soil and getting ready for the growing season. Some of us make our own compost, purchase manures or even buy soil additives. The cheaper solution, however, is to use what nature gives you for free. Using leaf litter for mulch enriches the soil and perpetuates the cycle of life by renewing plants.

So exactly how is leaf mulch good for plants? The benefits of leaf litter mulch are abundant:

Tips on Mulching with Leaves

The best way to use leaves is to shred them. You can do this in a number of ways but it is best to let them dry first. Once dry, use a lawn mower to chop them into little pieces. Dried leaves as mulch break down more quickly and shred easily. You can also use leaves after the season that have been moist and developed into leaf mold. These are partially decomposed and can be worked into the soil.

Using leaf litter for mulch is an easy way to recycle the debris in your yard. To use the dried leaves as mulch, spread them at a rate of 3 to 4 inches (7.5 to 10 cm.) around trees and shrubs and 2 to 3 inches (5 to 7.5 cm.) over perennial beds. You can use them to insulate rose bushes in November; just pull them away before the bushes start spring growth.

Work leaf litter into vegetable beds to increase porosity and add valuable nutrients. The smaller the leaves are shredded, the quicker they will break down and the less likely they will mat and mold.

Composting with Leaves

Using leaf litter as mulch has many benefits, but you can also simply compost the dead foliage. You can use the three-bin system, a composter or simply a pile of leaves. Rake the leaves into a pile in an area that will get wet on occasion. Leave the pile alone for about 2 years and it will become rich, crumbly compost ready to amend your flower beds. As in mulching, it’s best to cut them up to fine pieces for quicker composting.

Keep the leaves moderately moist and turn the pile at least weekly. For a balanced compost, mix in some grass clippings to add nitrogen. The proper ratio of nitrogen to carbon is 25 to 30 carbon (leaves) to 1 part nitrogen (grass).

Keeping the pile warm, moist and aerated will guarantee juicy soil in the future and that the fine shreds will break down quickly for fast compost that will benefit the whole garden.

I can’t think of anything better than leaf mulch if you have trees on your property. Free exercise and free organic mulch to nourish your garden year round! So don’t rake and bag those fall leaves, turn them into leaf mulch instead. Now that you know how to use leaf mulch in gardens, you can take advantage of the fantastic “green” benefits mulching with leaves provides.

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How to Use Fall Leaves as Garden Mulch | Leaf Shredding

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The leaves on the left were just shredded. The leaves on the right are shredded leaves stored in a pile from last fall. They’re rich, earthy, full of earthworms, and soil-like.

One of Mother Nature’s very best gifts comes every fall, as leaves drop from trees. For the small price of collecting the leaves and depositing them in your garden beds as mulch, the returns are high.

 

 

Raking and blowing leaves is a dreaded task for many of us, but those leaves are the best amendment for gardens and landscape beds — and a fantastic addition to compost piles.  

Of the nutrients that trees take out of the soil through their roots, over half is stored in the leaves, which are also high in stored carbon, taken from the air. As the leaves decompose in your garden, the nutrients and organic matter will make soil more fertile and improve the soil structure for optimal drainage and more.

The trick to getting the most benefit from leaves the fastest is to shred whole leaves into smaller pieces.

Some simple tools you may already have can work well for this.

 

Shredding whole leaves into smaller pieces is the best way to get the most benefit either for use as mulch or for composting. There are a few different ways to quickly shred leaves.

 

You can mow over whole leaves when dry using a lawnmower with a bagging attachment.

Electric leaf blowers often have a reverse function that comes with the tube and bagging attachment which finely chops the leaves as they’re vacuumed up.

You can also use a standard string trimmer. While it does get the job done, it can be rather cumbersome to manipulate the trimmer head and definitely leads to arm fatigue if shredding more than just a few bags.

 

Leaves can be collected in a trash bin and shredded into small pieces with a weed eater before bagging or storing.

 

One product created specifically for chopping leaves that uses the string trimmer concept is called a leaf shredder. After hearing rave reviews from a close gardening friend, and reading the online reviews, I was curious enough to order one for myself and put it through the paces. 

 

After hearing rave reviews about the Worx leaf mulcher from a gardening friend, I bought one to use at the GardenFarm™. It’s my new favorite method for shredding leaves to prepare them for garden mulch.

 

I’m happy to report this was money well spent. For a modest investment of about $150 and a few hundred bags of leaves to test with, this is my new favorite method for shredding them.  

The electric shredding unit is mounted above a sturdy stand. The leaves are safely fed from the top into the hopper, and the string trimmer chops them down and blows them into a collection bag. Overall, it’s the fastest, neatest, most consistent, and most enjoyable method I’ve tried. 

 

An electric leaf mulcher like this one has the shredding mounted above a stand. The leaves are fed into the mulcher from above and the finished product is collected in the bag below.

 

Shredded leaves are easy to work with when applying mulch to beds. And once shredded, leaves will decompose much faster into rich organic matter known as humus.

All you need is about a 2-inch layer of leaf mulch to suppress weeds, prevent compaction, retain water, and insulate soil from severe temperature changes. Spread by hand, or with a rake or blower.

 

A two-inch layer of leaf mulch around crops helps suppress weeds, prevents soil compaction, retains moisture in the soil, and insulates the soil from severe temperatures.

 

If you have an abundance of leaves, you can store them whole or shredded in a pile, bin or what I call a leaf corral and wet them. In time, funguses will break the leaves down into what is often referred to as leaf mold, which is simply semi-composted leaves. Leaf mold makes for a very effective organic mulch and highly beneficial soil amendment.

 

Leaves can be collected and stored in a pile, bin or corral. Over time, the leaves will break down into leaf mold, a beneficial organic mulch.

 

Links & Resources

Some product links in this guide are affiliate links. See full disclosure below.

Episode 26: Using Leaves as Mulch & Compost (and Why Leaves Change Color & Shed)

Episode 110: Why Mulch Matters in Every Garden: What You Need to Know

joegardener blog:  How to Use Fall Leaves in the Garden – and Why You Should

joegardenerTV YouTube: Why Leaves Change Color in Fall

joegardener Online Gardening Academy™: Three popular courses on gardening fundamentals; managing pests, diseases & weeds; and seed starting!

joegardener Online Gardening Academy Seed Temperature Chart

joegardener Online Gardening Academy Essential Gardening Fundamentals: The basics on healthy soil, planting, watering techniques, composting, raised bed and other gardening methods, fertilizer, the many benefits of mulch, and more.

joegardenerTV YouTube

joegardener Newsletter

joegardener Facebook

joegardener Facebook Group

joegardener Instagram

joegardener Pinterest

joegardener Twitter

Growing a Greener World® 

GGWTV YouTube

Leaf shredder 

Corona® Tools – Video sponsor and Brand Partner of joegardener.com

*Disclosure: Some product links in this guide are affiliate links, which means we would get a commission if you purchase. However, none of the prices of these resources have been increased to compensate us. None of the items included in this list have any bearing on any compensation being an influencing factor on their inclusion here. The selection of all items featured in this post and podcast were based solely on merit and in no way influenced by any affiliate or financial incentive, or contractual relationship. At the time of this writing, Joe Lamp’l has professional relationships with the following companies who may have products included in this post and podcast: Rain Bird, Corona Tools, Milorganite, Soil3, Park Seed, and Exmark. These companies are either Brand Partners of joegardener.com and/or advertise on our website. However, we receive no additional compensation from the sales or promotion of their product through this guide. The inclusion of any products mentioned within this post is entirely independent and exclusive of any relationship.

About Joe Lamp'l

Joe Lamp’l is the creator and “joe” behind joe gardener®. His lifetime passion and devotion to all things horticulture has led him to a long-time career as one of the country’s most recognized and trusted personalities in organic gardening and sustainability. That is most evident in his role as host and creator of Emmy Award-winning Growing a Greener World®, a national green-living lifestyle series on PBS currently broadcasting in its tenth season. When he’s not working in his large, raised bed vegetable garden, he’s likely planting or digging something up, or spending time with his family on their organic farm just north of Atlanta, GA.

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Leaf mulch, humus and soil

11/21/2020

Leaf mulch is perhaps the easiest way to mulch. After all, the leaves are easy to collect and very easy to work with.

Mulching with leaves (and not only dry and fallen ones) is a good way to cover the soil under tomato and cucumber bushes. And in the fall, many gardeners like to mulch the beds with plantings before winter with leaves. Some even specially go to the forest for fallen birch leaves or pine needles. nine0003

I always have a lot of leaves from a large oak and chokeberry on my plot. As a rule, these leaves are not eaten by slugs, caterpillars and other pests, and there are no signs of bacterial or other diseases on them. These are the ones I like to use as mulch. I take just enough leaves so as not to expose the ground under the trees. And so that the leaves do not scatter from the garden, I cover them from above with a thin white lutrasil.

I rake the rest of the leaves from the plot into heaps and put them in plastic garbage bags. I add a couple of shovels of earth or compost to the bags (I try to have earthworms in them) and pour a little water, dissolving a couple of tablespoons of Baikal EM1 BIO-fertilizer in it. I tie it tightly, pierce it at the top in several places with a knitting needle and put such packages with foliage in the greenhouse. After about 8 months, I get an excellent, cheap, highly nutritious humus. nine0003

Birch, linden and maple leaves are great for mulching. Scatter them in spring and summer under fruit and berry crops 10-15 cm thick. By the end of the season, they will rot, turning into an excellent organic fertilizer. And so that the leaves do not scatter, lay a net on them or throw small sticks on them. After a month, the mesh or sticks can already be removed, as the sheet is compressed into a dense layer.

Leafy and upland soils

As long as the leaf is green, it is an important plant organ that is important for the process of photosynthesis and other plant functions. But the old withered leaf also has value. We are against burning fallen leaves. After all, they are so easy to use, like organic fertilizer, retaining nutrients. nine0003

Fallen leaves, decomposing, form the most valuable humus, which in its qualities is not inferior to manure.

In addition, the "leaf earth" obtained from the leaves is light and loose. If you use part of it in the preparation of beds or soil for seedlings, indoor plants, then the soil structure changes for the better. Nutrition from such soil is absorbed by plants much better.

Approximate application rate per 1 m² from 2 to 4 kg. "leaf earth".

Receive such land only under certain conditions. After all, old leaves decompose with the participation of completely different microorganisms than other plant residues. In the process of their decay, microscopic fungi are mainly involved. nine0003

How to get leafy soil

Gather fallen leaves at any time of the year. For ideal leafy soil, bring some leaves from the forest.
Put everything in a box or rake in piles. Arrange a cover so that they do not fly away from the wind.

In summer, shake the heaps, shovel and spill with water. Leaves should always be moist with good air access.
The leaves, decomposing, form the earth, which will contain a large amount of organic acids. They, in turn, will slow down the work of microorganisms and composting will be delayed for a long time. To prevent this from happening, add a deoxidizer. For example, ash, and even better lime - 500 g / 1 m³ of sheet mass. nine0003

The process of preparing the "leaf earth" is not fast. And to speed it up, periodically add slurry to the pile. It contains bacteria that will accelerate the ripening of the leaves. And in two years you will have land ready for use.

Seasoned gardeners speed up the work of bacteria in such ways.
For example, spilling a pile of urea, 500 gr./10 l. water.
Or potato peel solution. For this 1 kg. potatoes or their peelings pour 3 liters. water and boil until puree-like softness. Then diluted in 10 liters. cold water. For 50 kg. leaf mass is enough 2-3 liters. decoction. During the summer, you can water them and shovel the leaves three times. nine0003

Which leaves are best to take

You will get excellent soil if you use linden, birch and maple leaves. They quickly rot.

Never pick up leaves near a busy road. Otherwise, together with the leaf, “enrich” the soil with heavy metals, cadmium, lead, nickel and others.

How to get “upland soil”

“Upland soil” is also obtained from a leaf, but coniferous species, that is, from needles.

It is prepared much less often, as it does not abound in nutrients. nine0003

But it is often used as a baking powder and soil acidifier. For example, mulching planting strawberries. You just need to remember that if after that you use strawberry beds for planting other garden crops, you will have to deoxidize it. Use ash or lime for this.

Prepare "upland" in the same way as "leaf". Needles from pine, fir, juniper and spruce species are piled in piles. But for this they take the lower rotted layers of needles, raking everything from above (that is, still green and alive) to the side. nine0003

If you look at this whole process from the point of view of the cycle of leaves in nature, then the following picture emerges. Leaf mulch, while on the surface of the soil for some time, then safely turns into humus and nutrient soil. And we do not need much effort or difficult work for this. It is only required to correctly distribute the leaves under crops or in compost.

Is it possible to add fallen leaves to the beds, how to cover the garden with them in autumn, and how to properly prepare such a mulch? nine0001

Fallen leaves can be a good material for mulching a garden or orchard.

However, they must be used correctly , otherwise, instead of being useful, such a mulch will cause a lot of harm.

We have already written about the general principles of mulching here, but now we will talk about the differences that appear when using fallen leaves as mulching material.

Contents

Features of the foliage

compared with chips, sawdust or chipping, the sheet has a huge area, therefore, it is Retabulating slightly differently , it takes a little different than waste wood processing. nine0003

This material has a very soft, fragile structure, which further loses its strength under the influence of moisture, as well as when the temperature passes through zero.

Part of the foliage becomes food for bifidobacteria and fungi that turn any organic matter into humus. The rest of the deciduous mass becomes food for earthworms and various insects loosening the soil.

In addition, the green mass contains less polysaccharides, that is, cellulose, and also has almost no lignin, so the amount of polysaccharides that ensure plant growth is somewhat less than in the humus from wood waste. nine0003

At the same time, , the high content of trace elements makes such humus more balanced, so the addition of nitrogenous fertilizers along with it eliminates this disadvantage.

Another plus of leaf humus is that it is more effective for loosening the soil than humus from waste wood . This is due to the peculiarities of the structure of the foliage.

Is it possible to cover the garden?

You can cover the garden with fallen leaves. Due to the low density of this material, apply a layer 15-30 cm thick and it will not damage the soil or crops in any way.

However, when using this material where perennials grow in beds, care must be taken , because in the process of converting organic matter into humus, acids are released that can damage the trunks.

Plant stems should preferably be wrapped with polyethylene film . It cannot be pressed tightly against the trunks, it is necessary to ensure free movement of air. nine0003

You can also put on a protective cover made of a plastic bottle.

Fallen leaves can be added to beds prepared for planting next year, but immediately after the snow melts it is advisable to dig them up and plant seedlings or seedlings in 1–2 months.

In this case, the structure of the soil destroyed as a result of digging will have time to recover, and earthworms and other important inhabitants will return to it.

In addition, many useful substances from humus will go into the soil and make the entire volume of soil more fertile.

The application of leaf mulch in the garden is no different from the mulching of vegetable beds.

If the garden is not planted with winter varieties of plants, then it is covered with a layer of fallen leaves, and after the snow melts, is dug up and allowed to settle for 1–2 months.

You can do without digging, but in this case, plantings should not be planted in dug holes, but in holes pierced with a shovel handle, but 9Sprinkle 0069 on top with a mixture of garden soil and humus from fallen leaves.

This method of planting , unlike digging, does not destroy the soil ecosystem , so seedlings or seedlings can be planted already 1-2 weeks after the snow melts, when the soil warms up a little.

Can dead leaves be added to the beds along with other fertilizers?

Dead leaves can be added to the beds together with any other fertilizer , if the peculiarities of its influence on the soil or plants are taken into account.

When organic matter rots, the soil loses nitrogen and also becomes more acidic, so the fertilizer complex should not only fill the soil with nutrients, but also compensate for the loss of nitrogen , as well as changes in acidity.

It does not matter in what condition (whole or shredded in a garden vacuum cleaner with a mulching function) the leaves fall on the beds. After all it is not the size or shape that is important, but its chemical composition and the processes that occur during decay.

Garden and lawn mulching

Foliage can be spread around trees without the limitations of garden bed mulching, because the trees are protected by a strong bark that will easily withstand the effects of acids.

Care must be taken when moving along paths or between rows, because the foliage quickly sags and turns into a slippery mass. Therefore, it is necessary either not to fill up the paths / aisles, or lay boards on top of the mulch and walk on them. nine0003

It is also necessary to apply nitrogen fertilizers and trace elements together with the hardwood mulch, and adjust the change in acidity by adding lime or dolomite flour .

When mulching lawns populated with perennial grasses or flowers, the stems of which are completely cut off before frost, it is enough to cover the lawn with a layer of fallen leaves 10–20 cm thick .

In the spring, after the snow melts, plant stems will easily make their way through the thin layer of decayed foliage, and within a year, insects and earthworms will completely recycle the remaining mulch. nine0003

As a result of their vital activity enriched and loosened soil with high water permeability will be obtained. However, this does not eliminate the need to apply fertilizers, including trace elements, because in the wild their role is played by animal excrement and decaying corpses of various living creatures.

If bushes and flowers grow on lawns, the stems of which are not removed before winter, then they should not be mulched with fallen leaves, because acids and other substances produced by microorganisms, will damage the stems of plants .

In this case it is better to use chopped leafy material , which is obtained after the removal of leaves by garden vacuum cleaners with a mulching function.

The advantage of shredded mass is that it is easier to lay around the stems so that the mulch does not touch them . If there is no such device, then it is advisable to protect the stems with polyethylene or plastic from bottles.

Leaf Mulch Features

The main problem that sometimes makes it impossible to use fallen leaves to cover beds, gardens or vegetable gardens is the high probability of leaves affected by various diseases or pest larvae getting into the mulch.

Bifidobacteria and fungi, which transform the leafy mass into humus, as well as frosts, cannot destroy pathogens and larvae, therefore, after the snow melts, bacteria and insects begin to look for food. It is highly likely that they will be able to get to suitable plants and settle on them. nine0003

To prevent this from happening, it is necessary to check all plants 1-3 times a month, trying to detect affected leaves or branches on them.

If diseases or pests are found , such branches/leaves must be cut from trees or shrubs, then stacked where they cannot mix with falling leaves.

After autumn pruning, all diseased and pest-infested waste must be disposed of in one of the following ways:

We wrote about whether it is possible to burn leaves on your site.

In addition, do not use fallen leaves for mulching coniferous plantations , this may adversely affect the condition of the trees.

This mulch will loosen the soil and make it more nutritious, but at the same time, Substances incompatible with the metabolism of conifers . This will lead to a deterioration in the state of green spaces, the flesh to the fall of immunity and the defeat of various pests and diseases.

No such hazard exists for all hardwoods.

Related video

In this video, the user tells everything about mulching with leaves in the fall: both the preparation of mulch and the process itself.

Conclusion

Fallen leaves are good material for mulching the garden.

Learn more