Or should I plan to remove some leaves now or in the spring?
by ihmsam
Or should I plan to remove some leaves now or in the spring?
by ihmsam
16 Comments
They’ll do great! And the bugs and small critters will appreciate it too.
Oh your good! You think you can break 100’s of years of natural selection and adaptation? HA!!!
I planted some plugs last summer and fall in a garden under an oak tree and left the leaves over the winter. The critters went wild under the leaf cover and dug up some of the plugs. So I would leave the leaves but maybe put small cages or upside down wire baskets around any delicate plugs.
this looks, basic, fine.
how many plants are in here?
it’s not a bad idea to be sure each plant is able to grow when they are ready. Just rake around a little to expose them
if you were trying to start seeds you’d maybe want to have less but mostly fine
Thank you for asking this! I planted some bare root spring ephemerals about a month ago, and they’re currently covered with mulch and leaves for the winter. The recommendation from prairie moon was to remove the mulch in the spring…. But I don’t know.
Looks great for now. Exactly like my beds. I get heavy snow so a lot of leaves decompose under it and when the snow melts in spring and the temps start to be 40s-50s during the day I expose a bit of soil around the areas where I know plants will be emerging.
Yes. Leaf cover also acts as habitat for pollinators and will insulate your plants. Then as they decompose will naturally fertilize the soil.
Edited to add that as long as the mulch doesn’t cover the crown of the plant, your perennials will poke up through next year. Leave stalks until spring for overwintering habitat and as a place marker for the plants next year.
I pile the leaves on my garden every year, then remove them in the mid-Spring when we start getting some sunny days in the Canadian PNW. Some of the leaves decompose over the Winter and it also provides an excellent home for hibernating insects and little creatures. Leave it and your soil microbiome will thank you!
Minnesota, and I rake the leaves into my garden beds but when I start seeing the bumble bees out I usually carefully pull SOME of the leaves off my woodland plants and transfer the leaves to my leaf compost. Especially oaks since they take about 2 years to compost. For my veggie gardens I just put dirt and compost over the leaves and then plant.
Yup thats not that thick. if yoh are worried, in the spring move the leaves to the side.
YOU CAN HAVE TOO THICK A LEAF LAYER but that is like, one that is a foot or more thick. i have done this 😅
Depends on the type of leaves. We had maple trees and the leaves would rot down and form an impermeable layer. My solution was to run the lawnmower over the beds to mulch the leaves while they were still crispy.
Not all areas are going to have plants that can be tolerated by leaf mulch. I do not try to get rid of leaves, but I clear them away from my sensitive plants [most of them].
I think I see little bluestem and a zizia species in your first pic. I’ve planted both of these in a spot that accumulates at least twice as much maple/ash/sycamore leaves and they both come up just fine in the spring. You can also leave your leaves where they fall for now (after tidying, etc) and then check on the shoots throughout the spring.
If you wanted this spot to fill in densely with bunchgrass then you might want to remove some of the leaf layer in the later spring or early summer to encourage seed germination. These kinds of garden beds are somewhere between open woodlands and grasslands based on tree cover and you get to decide what they ultimately look like!
Not only will they grow back from under the leaf cover, but it’ll help them survive the winter. Leaf cover is a natural mulch. And what’s beautiful about it is it breaks down naturally as a season’s move along and give nutrients to the soil. Feeding everything, including your plants. It’s the best free mulch you can find. The people who say that leaves kills lawn have no idea what they’re talking about. I let the leaves cover my lawn every year, and my lawn is very happy. Happier than I wanted to be. Since I’m not into lawns.
Another thing to consider: wind. There’s never that much left in the spring after the winter winds.
Around mid May you should remove some leaves and place them around more established shrubs and trees so they can finish decomposing . I remove some in one bed because the leaves are so thick it prevents new seedlings to emerge .