Garden -- yard waste bags

Did the last garden post give you any ideas?
Yep,  you're right.
You can save a ton of money on yard waste bags if you don't throw out your dead leaves.
Rake carefully if you have oak trees, and separate the leaves from the acorns.
Same if you have walnut or hazelnut or chestnut trees.
Rake up the edible nuts and store them for eating.
Now run your mower over the leaves and shred them up.
Rake them back over the tree roots.
Make sure there's at least 6 inches between the tree trunk and the inner ring of shredded leaves.
Make sure the leaves are no more than 2 inches deep.
This will be good for your tree; all the nutrients it put into the leaves
will now go back to the tree.
If you push the leaves up against the trunk, two things will happen.
Moisture will get trapped around the trunk and eat into the wood.
Roots will grow vertically out of the ground to make the most of the nutrients in the leaves.
If you heap the leaves deeper than 2 inches, and also mound them around the tree,
the roots will grow tight in to the tree. 
Then if the winds are heavy, the tree doesn't have anything to stabilize it, and it goes over.
Or if there's a drought, the roots dry out, because they haven't sunk deep in the ground.
Tree mounds kill more trees than insect infestations.
Do it right.
Save yourself money.
Here's Mike McGrath's YBYG article on the subject.


© Patricia Jo Heil, 2013-2018 All Rights Reserved