Leaves for mulch

[Machelle 0]

I have been allowing oak leaves that naturally collect on my garden to remain

through the winter for mulch. In the spring this layer is very dense and doesn't

seem to be breaking down. I always remove all the leaves because I have

heard disease can over winter in them and some of the plants

can't push through the leaf mulch. Am I wasting my time? When I have

left some leaves they dry and blow around which detracts from my garden.

I really dislike raking them up so I'm hoping someone will tell me I can

change my ways.

[Dsmith74 16]

My leaves in my yard are mostly maple (although tough Norway maple, not nice, crunchy sugar maples) but I've never seen a perennial plant that couldn't push through it. They might poke through the mat then lift up a piece of it, but they always shake it off. In the woods under oaks the plants on the ground manage to get through the oak mat.

 

It's true that leaves can harbor diseases, but I think most often that's diseases of the species the leaves came from. I know our walnut anthracnose overwinters in leaf litter, as does the maple tar spot. Not sure diseases of perennial species would be so much affected by tree leaves, although I suppose they could help maintain an environment around perennial detritus that could increase the disease reservoir for the next year, especially fungal stuff.

 

I'll be darned if I start raking them out though. In fact, I blow them INTO my beds intentionally so I don't have to pick them up. I would love if the 30"+ of maple leaves I blow under the grape arbor each fall would smother the junk that grows there (grapes hate neighbors) but no such luck - in fact I'm pretty sure they grow better with the winter cover and spring nutrient boost.

[carolm 1]

If you don't like the way the leaves look in the garden in spring, you could always pull them out to let things get started, then pile them back on in late May or June. I've done that before, mainly because I have things that I want to reseed. Shredding them might help keep them in place. Like Dsmith said, plants grow through a heavy leaf mulch in the woods all the time, and they do just fine.

[Cricket 7]

We lawn vac our leaves, especially large and tough leaves like catalpa and oak...Those tend to mat and choke out oxygen to an area, then in early to mid spring hold to much moisture.... We rake a pile of leaves along garden beds, run over the ple with a mower and blow it into the beds 2-3" deep...Or lawn vac an area and empty that on all beds, veggie and ornamental...Give mulched areas an overspray with the hose to keep mulch in place...When leaf matter is smaller, soil critters have access to oxygen and moisture to break down materials that enrich soil over the winter....Of note: When soil is ready to be worked in spring our leaf layer has generally been reduced by half....

 

In naturalized areas leaves do fall to earth and remain as fallen....While that works for a forest floor with native plants that practice may not be ideal for perennial beds....Something to research....

[Your Letters 2]

We always try to leave all the fall leaves in our beds and even add to them from neighbors' yards. But this year there seem to be so many more. Maybe because a lot of the trees didn't drop their leaves in fall and they just dropped now? They are really thick on the garden. How much is too much?

D.M.

[Janet Macunovich 32]

If it stops plant growth it's too much.

 

A loose covering of leaves doesn't stop plants coming up, even if the leaf layer is several inches deep. So leave the leaves unless they are matted. Some  leaves mat if pressed and wet. If you have mats, break them up or pile the matted clumps elsewhere with looser leaves also in the pile and let them break down.

 

The best trillium seed beds we know - natural ones, not of our sowing - are covered in dry oak leaves several inches deep. Only there do those tender seedlings get the protection they need to survive changing weather.

[Janet Macunovich 32]

Argh! Steven has been walking the woods looking to catch all our favorite wildflowers as they bloom. So:

"Hey Steven, people are asking about too many leaves again. Did you say you shot some hepatica blooming through the leaf litter?"

"Yes. No spring beauy yet but hundreds of hepatica all over that first hill."

'Could I have a hepatica for the Forum?"

"Sure. Give me a minute."

"Thanks!"

 

And then he shows up with a dozen photos! Every one prettier than the last. Argh.

So I whittled it down to three.

 

No one rakes in the woods. The fall leaves create a deep blanket. Yet the woods floor grows thick with wldflowers, some of them barely four inches tall.

 

Hepatica americana: hepatica or liverwort. Liver (and hepatica) for the shape of the leaf reminding people of that organ. Wort the Old English for "plant." Thus, liver plant according to the medieval Doctrine of Signatures. That philosophy assigned plant uses based on appearance. If the plant looked like a liver it was used to treat diseases of the liver.