shredded leaves for garden

[elkwc36]

I'm fortunate here. Can get all the mulch I want fairly easy. Just a little hauling on some of it. The local recreation department lets me have all the grass clippings I want. A co worker also tends several yards and keeps all clippings and now bringing me the leaves he picks up. Just came in from outside unloading a trailer load he brought. He parks the trailer and I just have to unload and move it. If I'm not ready to apply them I just pile them put a cover to hold them down and then add when I'm ready. These were mainly elm with a few oak. I use the loose hay from around my stacks and when I need more there is always someone with some to give away. Have a few 3-4 y/o round wheat bales to haul in this week. Should almost have enough stored now to last me through most of next season. But can't turn it down when offered.

[dice]

One other thing about compost in fall or spring: one thing that
top-dressing it in fall will do is reduce soil compaction from
rain (the winter cover crop tends to take care of that in my
vegetable garden).

It is kind of a trade-off between protecting the soil from
compaction and wasting soluble nutrients in the compost
that rain washes down and out of the root zone. You could
prevent the soil compaction with any kind of thick mulch
(leaves; water-damaged, moldy hay; shredded tree
branches; wood chips from ground up stumps; discarded
stable bedding for animals; etc), so it seems like kind of
a waste to use mature compost for that, unless you have
a lot of it to spare.

[Johnnyv_44]

I have a lot of leaves that were left over from last fall. I planned to put newspaper and grass clippings around my plants. Will these leaves be good to put on with the grass clippings? Can they be ground up and turned into the bed or should I just compost them seperately?

Thanks!
JohnnyV-new to gardening

[neoguy]

Here is how I used last years fall leaves, they were run over with the mower using a bag. I spread them over the garlic bed and after the garlic harvest this summer they'll be turned into the ground. As far as using the leaves this spring, sure use them, you can run them through your mower if you wish, but they don't have to be really small or fine.

Don't layer the leaf-grass mulch touching the stem of your plants, it may lead to the stems rotting, leave it maybe an inch or two away from stems. Make sure you water it in really well so it doesn't blow away, perhaps lay the newsprint then the leaves and grass on top. In the fall, you work whats left right back into the soil.

[Polar_Lace]

1/2 Baked Idea: A tried and true method.

Instructions:

1) Rake leaves or mow over and collect like neoguy.

2) Place 1/2 a load of leaves into a 30 gallon plastic garbage can.

3) Insert weed eater/whacker/trimmer (the kind with the plastic string) into the can.

4) Turn on motor to (puree speed) proceed to chop leaves into faster mulching pieces!

5) Add to compost pile, or use as is.

~* Robin

[ContainerTed]

Johnny, what kind of tree did the leaves come from? Some leaves are not for composting for the garden. Walnut and Hickory are two of the worst.

Being cautious Ted

[Johnnyv_44]

Most likely they are sycamore. No
Walnut or hickory trees in the area.

[creister]

Sycamore are all right. I wouldn't use live oak leaves, as they are very thick and don't break down very well.

[PaulF]

The Polar Lace idea is fine for oak leaves except I bought one of those chipper shredders and can fill my compost pile in a couple of hours with "pureed" leaves. My best measurement is a 12:1 reduction in volume from whole leaves to shredded leaves and a 20:1 faster breakdown from leaves to compost.

[Polar_Lace]

Paul,

A "chipper shredder" is a good idea; however if you own a weed whacker or such (and most people do) then I would go along with it. I don't own a chipper shredder, right now and I don't need one right now. This is why I wrote about the weed whacker. I just looked for an easier method for an everyday appliance.

~* Robin

[PaulF]

I understand, Robin, about looking for a easier cheaper way to do things. I only had the chipper/shredder because when I moved to Nebraska a few years ago my yard was a jungle of overgrown brush, trees and fifty year old limbs. I chipped tons of tree branches and then discovered the shredder function made the leaf reduction situation a lot easier.

If you got the equipment use it. Otherwise, make do with what works. I used to use my lawn mower with a bagger to do the same thing. Even went so far as to open the end of the bag and velcro-ed a great big jury rigged plastic tarp bag to the mower to catch the leaves. Not much of an invention but it sort of worked.

[stormymater]

PualF - you solved my quandry! I got a little chipper/mulcher on Criag's List 5hp Briggs & Stratton engine when i found out how much it cost to reant a chipper/mulcher which was too big for 85% of my needs. This little bugger chugs through leaves & wax myrtle branches up to about 2 inches in diameter. But she SHOOTS the mulch out in a low direstion - not compatible with plan to aim into my new raised beds! I like the tarp idea alot & will employ it to my lil mulcher when the rain stops!

[ovenbird]

Originally Posted by Polar_Lace

Paul,

A "chipper shredder" is a good idea; however if you own a weed whacker or such (and most people do) then I would go along with it. I don't own a chipper shredder, right now and I don't need one right now. This is why I wrote about the weed whacker. I just looked for an easier method for an everyday appliance.

~* Robin

I love the chipper/shredder my friend lends me for 2 years at a time. I use it for all tree and shrub prunings, cornstalks, garden refuse, etc. It does not work very well for shredding leaves as you have to feed them in very slowly or the hopper jambs up. For leaves I use PaulF 's method of mowing, but with my standard bag and lots of trips to empty it.

I find the broken up leaves tend to blow around less when used as mulch. I mostly put them in the compost as they do sap nitro out of the soil as they break down. I do use them on my garlic and shallots topped off with a layer of straw. Thick mulch and lower nitrogen really discourages weeds, which really hamper the growth of garlic.