12/02/2006

"Fallen leaves are nature's gift to the soil, as well as significant worm-fodder, as Amy Stewart would tell you. Like any mulch, they will keep the frost from heaving plants out of the ground, a great killer of fall-planted things in my part of the world. It takes me only a few minutes to rake the leaves from my city yard into my flower beds. The usual recommendation is to chop up big leaves with a power mower first. I don't even bother with this step and still have had zero problems with rot and smotherment in my sandy soil."

Link.

1 comment:

lisa said...

Heh...I came to know the benefits of fallen leaves purely by accident-I'm just too lazy to do all that stupid raking! In spring, I uncover my emerging plants and burn some leaves then. I have no problems with rot, either, except in springtime if I don't take them off the emerging stuff.