How to Put Fall Leaves to Good Use

 

 

Good things happen when you add organic material to your vegetable garden on a regular basis. Clay soils become more workable, earth worm populations go up, microbial activity increases and the health and balance of your soil improves. All this activity leads to bigger, healthier harvests. Fall is an excellent time to work on improving your vegetable garden. The soil is warm, it’s easy to add organic amendments and this year we have the added benefit of an abundance of fall leaves. Fall leaves are packed with organic matter and nutrients and can be utilized as an amendment, a mulch or in the compost pile.  

An easy way to put fall leaves to work is to rake them up and scatter them across the surface of your garden, then cover them with three to four inches of Earth Essentials Sheep, Peat and Compost.  Through the course of the winter, the leaves will break down. Come spring, use your garden fork to work the resultant rich compost into your garden's soil.  

Another option would be to incorporate the leaf material into the garden now. Spread the leaves out over the garden bed, cover with three to four inches of Earth Essentials Sheep, Peat and Compost and dig the mixture in six to eight inches.  To speed up the process, mow the lawn with the catcher in place or use your leaf blower with bag attachment to shred and catch the leaves, as opposed to raking. The resulting smaller pieces will breakdown faster in your garden or compost pile, plus shredding helps prevent the leaves from packing together into layers that water and air can’t penetrate. 

Once the ground is cold – usually around Thanksgiving, apply a layer of shredded leaves and compost around each perennial. Mulching will help retain moisture and protect plants from winter’s temperature fluctuations.  

Fall leaves are a great source of carbon when added to your compost pile. Leaves count as "browns" in making compost. A good ratio of browns and greens is about 4:1 brown (carbon) to greens (nitrogen). Adding leaves in thin (2" to 3") layers will help the compost pile stay warm and working during the winter. 

 
 

 At the end of a beautiful autumn, it seems only fitting we put those fallen leaves to work in the garden. You'll have a healthier, more productive garden next season. 

Fall Pruning Tips

Pruning is a part of all tree and shrub maintenance, but the key is to prune at the right time of the season. Timed right, pruning encourages growth, improves plant health and can increase flower and fruit production.  At this point of the season, trees focus their energy on their roots, preparing for the winter ahead. There’s not enough time or energy to allow pruning cuts to heal.  Pruning during the dormant season (February/March) is advantageous because the structure of the tree is more visible. Crossing branches, as well as dead, diseased limbs can be identified more easily and removed. In addition, there’s less sap loss and the resultant new growth has time to mature naturally before summer’s heat kicks in.  

Correct pruning helps keep ornamental shrubs in shape, gets rid of dead and diseased wood, encourages healthy growth and generally promotes more blooms. Getting the most from your flowering shrubs this and every season depends on three things; knowing when to prune, how to prune and using the right pruning tools. Flowering shrubs can be divided into to two types; spring blooming and summer blooming. Spring blooming shrubs such as forsythia, lilac, ninebark and weigela already have this spring's flower buds in place. They're said to bloom on "old wood" because soon after flowering last season, they began to set the buds for next season's blooms. If you prune these shrubs now, you'll remove most if not all of the flower buds. The time to prune ornamental shrubs that flower in spring and early summer, is within a month after they stop blooming.  Summer flowering shrubs such as butterfly bush, blue-mist spirea, potentilla and hardy hibiscus can be pruned now, because these shrubs create their flower buds once they begin growing in the spring.  They put on new growth  and flower on this "new wood".

 

You can prune roses back to between 24 inches and 30 inches. but avoid severe pruning. We’ll talk more about fall rose care in a future article. Perennials such as Catmint (Nepeta), columbine, daylilies, phlox, peonies, salvia, veronica, and yarrow can be pruned to the ground now. 

Ornamental grasses can be pruned now, however they will add interest to your winter garden, so you can wait and prune them in early spring before they start to green up. 

If you had powdery mildew, black spot or any other disease on your roses or perennials, it’s important to clean up all leaves, branches or canes and dispose of it - do not put this debris in your compost pile. In the spring treat the area with dusting sulfur. 

If you have questions concerning pruning or general fall prep, stop in. We’ll be glad to help you.