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Mulch is the answerHOW CAN I SPEND MORE TIME ENJOYING my garden and less time weeding and watering? If that's your question, mulch is the answer. Another big advantage: it's free! At the FWG, we use semi-decayed leaves. We collect leaves in the fall — from our neighbours, OFNC club members, and landscapers; they sit over the winter under snow and begin to break down in the spring rain. Just when weeds start to appear in our garden beds, the mulch is ready. As we weed a bed, we cover the spaces between plants with big handfuls of leaf mulch. The mulch not only suppresses weed growth, but also keeps water from evaporating from the moist spring soil. As the leaves continue to decay, they return nutrients to the garden fertilizing the rapidly growing plants. We use leaves in other parts of the FWG as well. When we were turning a "lawn with trees in it" into our Old Woodlot, OFNC members brought hundreds of bags of leaves every year for 4 years. These were spread throughout the woods and allowed to rot. The result: a rich, moist humus, perfect for woodland wildflowers like Solomon's Seal, Wild Ginger, and Zig-Zag Goldenrod. In the new woodlot and around the edges of the woods we surround newly planted trees with "dishes" of leaf mulch, 5 or 6 feet across and sloped down in the middle to allow rain to run toward the tree trunk and main roots. Saplings treated this way grow noticeably faster than those left to compete with the grass. So why are you throwing away this wonderful resource? Why not spread the leaves around your perennials and shrubs in the fall, instead of leaving them at the curb for garbage pickup. If you have too many, store them in bags next to your composter and mulch in the spring. As a teacher at Algonquin told a gardening class I was taking, "Fallen leaves are like gold to a gardener." So, please, put your treasure to good use this year!  |
