Leaves are a fact of life in the garden. Although they may seem to be a problem in fall, leaves can be a treasure if put to good use. Paul James, the host of HGTV's Gardening by the Yard, gives some tips on harvesting what nature so generously provides. Unfortunately, many gardeners perceive leaves as trash and can't wait to get rid of them. Far from it: leaves can be turned into an excellent soil amendment or mulch. A number of cities across the country have banned the curbside disposal of leaves and grass clippings, and you can bet your begonias that more cities will follow suit. You may as well get accustomed to using leaves to improve your lawn and garden. Pound for pound, leaves can probably do more to improve your lawn and garden than any store-bought product. They're an excellent source of organic matter for improving soils of all kinds; a remedy for drainage problems in heavy clay soils or loose sandy soils; a source of nutrients, especially micronutrients that are rarely found in commercial fertilizers; a dynamite mulching material; and one of the earthworm's favorite food sources. And if that's not enough, leaves are free! Here's how to use leaves in the lawn and garden. For starters, if you don't want to bother with raking, buy a good mulching mower and mulch the leaves into your lawn. This practice, combined with regular grass-cycling (mulching the grass clippings each time you mow), will lead to a healthier, better-looking lawn in only one season. But if you want to use leaves as a soil amendment or mulch, it's best to shred them first because they'll rot faster and without compacting. Here are three ways to shred leaves: - Using a mower equipped with a grass catcher, simply run over the leaves. Most mowers will shred the leaves somewhat, and you can then dump them onto your compost pile or directly into your garden. Admittedly, this approach can be time-consuming, but it works. In fact, you can make a great compost pile out of nothing but leaves. Just pile them up, preferably in some sort of simple enclosure so the wind won't scatter them back into your yard, add a cup or two of blood meal or cottonseed meal and a blast of water from the hose to get the pile cooking, and let nature take care of the rest.
- The most efficient method is to vacuum the leaves using a combination leaf blower/leaf sucker or a fancy lawn vacuum/leaf shredder. A leaf blower/leaf sucker sells for less than $200 and in a few minutes can be converted from a conventional blower to a sucker. It not only sucks up the leaves but also shreds them. In fact, it can reduce the volume of 10 trash bags of whole leaves to one bag of shredded leaves.
- A fancier -- and pricier -- tool is the lawn vacuum. Many models come with a built-in chipper for converting small-diameter prunings into wood chips. Starting at around $400, these machines suck the leaves from the ground, shred them into fine particles and deposit them into an easy-to-remove bag.
Once you've shredded your leaves, you can use them in several ways: - Dump them in the compost pile to rot.
- Toss them in the garden, and work them gently into the top 6" of soil, where they'll quickly decompose.
- Lay them directly on top of the garden, holding them in place with soil, where they'll serve double duty as a soil amendment and mulch.
Using a String Trimmer You can shred leaves using a string trimmer. Place the leaves in a large container, such as a garbage can, and run the string trimmer inside the can until the leaves are shredded. Always wear eye protection when running a string trimmer. Tip: - Another effective way to shred leaves for compost is to collect them in a bin or container, put on safety glasses, and then use a weed eater to shred them -- hand-held blender style (figure A).
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