Reduce the pressure on landfills and add valuable nutrients to your soil with leaves
By JOE LAMP’L
A hint of fall is in the air. The mornings are cool and crisp, the leaves are starting to change colors and college football is in full swing. It’s clearly my favorite time of year. But in spite of these reasons, those aren’t what make it so for me.
As lovely as hardwood trees appear with their leaves in glorious shades of red, yellow, orange and rust, my favorite part of this season is after they have fallen. The now brown leaves begin to blanket my lawn and beds and I know that it is compost time!
No, I haven’t lost my mind. I don’t relish the work of clearing off those leaves any more than you do. But, I do have a deep appreciation for what they will mean to my garden and landscape a few months from now and for that reason, I am happy to prepare the way.
I suppose it goes back to that old saying; “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”. Where most people see leaf debris as just that, along with hours of raking, bagging and hauling, I see garden beds blanketed in rich organic compost. These leaves contain 50-80% of the nutrients those trees extracted from the earth before they fell to the ground. I will use them to replenish the soil and nourish all that grows within it.
I know earthworms will feast on this debris, then burrow deeper into the soil depositing that matter as castings, adding even more valuable nutrients, oxygen and drainage in the process. Beneficial fungi and bacteria will assist in the decomposition process, consuming this raw leaf material and returning it in a nutrient-rich form that can be utilized by plant and tree roots more efficiently and effectively than anything man has ever created.
Mere months after these shredded leaves are applied around my garden, they’ll transform into matter that promotes the life of soil dwelling organisms which in turn fortify my plants and trees to be more pest and disease resistant.
And have you ever stopped to consider that no matter or how poor the soil is what condition soil is in, compost will help make loose soil retain moisture and compacted soil drain better? Although there is an answer to that question, sometimes just knowing that it works is just as good as knowing why.
I see the opportunity to reduce landfill waste by 20% since that is how much space our yard debris occupies of these facilities. Rather than viewed as unnecessary trash, these leaves and other grass clippings could be going into our own gardens to enrich the soil while reducing the need for supplemental fertilizers and other harmful chemicals.
Yes, in a few weeks, I’ll be gathering up and shredding not only the leaves falling from my trees, but from my neighbor’s as well. I also have the landscaping crews ready to bring me the leaves they’ve collected from their jobs too.
What leaves I don’t spread into the beds, I’ll store somewhere else in my yard. I’ll worry about that later. But for now, bring me all you have. It’s my organic fertilizer, multi-vitamin and soil conditioner all-in-one, it’s plentiful and it’s free. It doesn’t get any better.
My 3 simple steps on how-to convert those leaves to make great soil
About Joe Lamp'l
Joe Lamp'l is the Host and Executive Producer of the award winning PBS television series Growing A Greener World. Off camera, Joe dedicates his time to promoting sustainability through his popular books, blog, podcast series, and nationally syndicated newspaper columns. Follow Joe on Twitter
Thanks for the info. How do you shred the leaves?
I rake them onto the lawn and mow over them with a mulching mower. You could also load them into a trash can and chop them up with a stick edger / weed whacker.
Thanks Joe!! Happy shredding!!
I have been trying to build up poor soils on my place for years. I shred and spread/save/use all my tree leaves, and only mow my lawn with a mulch blade, leaving the result where it lies. I used to collect grass clippings from neighbors, shred and apply to my raised-bed vegetable garden, but don’t anymore because I fear the artificial “weed/feed,” and Glyphosate chemicals and even some artificial fertilizer compounds the neighbors may use.
Am I right to avoid potentially treated neighbors’ grass clippings on a vegetable garden? On my own lawn? How about around my apple trees?
Am I best using the shredded leaves by roto-tilling them into my beds or should they just best be let lie on the surface – my original soils are dense clays and tills, in a relatively cold soil area..
Thanks,
TC Wilson
Wow TC. You’re doing all the right things and asking the right questions too. Here’s my take. First, I agree with you, I wouldn’t put my neighbor’s grass clippings onto my own veggie garden if there is a risk it may contain potentially hazardous chemicals. If you’re a strict organic gardener, this applies to putting them on your lawn also. But, here is where you may choose to use them here. Since you won’t be eating your grass (I assume) then the risk of ingesting composted clippings that at one time may have contained the bad stuff is not an issue. Yet one could argue that we don’t know how long some of these chemicals persist, even after composting. As for apple trees, I would not spread any mulch that might be suspect of chemicals around anything I will be consuming, so this includes your apple trees. Just as systemic pesticides show up in the fruit we eat, translocating chemicals of all types are potential candidates for being ingested.
And as for your leaves, shred them but let leave them to break down own their own as they incorporate into the soil. Intuitively it makes sense to till them into the soil. But new information shows that the rototilling is harmul to the soil structure already there. Let nature take its course and you’ll be fine as long as you’re patient. It will be worth it. I lived in Atlanta for years and my garden beds were dense red clay. Once I started adding shredded leaves on top (and not tilling them in), I’d add mulch over that sometimes. But over about 5 years, I ended up with incredible soil. Five years may seem like a long time but some things are worth waiting for and this is certainly one of them. Thanks for your excellent questions!