Hello! I’m using leaves as mulch for the first time this year, but I don’t have the equipment to shred them. I top-dressed my garden with compost and then put whole leaves right on top. Will this hurt my garden? I heard it could cause mold and I live in the Pacific Northwest with wet winters. If so, I would go back with a pair of scissors and cut them up, but I wanted to ask before going through the trouble.
by NatureGardenGirl
25 Comments
No
A solid layer of whole leaves tends to congeal into a rather impermeable sheet in my experience. It’s not the end of the world, but I try to avoid it.
Generally I just run them over a little with a lawn mower before collecting them. Something like a string trimmer in a garbage can or something may be another way to go.
Alternatively, perhaps you could mix them in with some other organics, such as non-seedy weeds, anything of a different size and shape to help prevent the matted sheeting effect that whole leaves on their own like to do.
No one chops them up in nature, they will break down fine.
It’s perfect nice job
You’re getting mixed information here because it really depends on the leaves and on the climate.
I generally use Japanese maple leaves for mulching veggie beds since they’re small and thin and breakdown well. I use my bigger/thicker leaves for established perennial beds since they work better for weed suppression.
Do some experimenting, see what works for you.
I’ve done this for a few winters in my area, but
– I live in a zone that is very humid and gets plenty of rain, so leaves eventually break down here
– I always add fresh compost and soil conditioner (if needed) in the spring before planting. I mix the leaves in to a very thin layer of the existing soil in addition to the new material, so as to not disturb the soil too much.
– I don’t really grow anything in the winter. I’ve had moderate success with some cover crops, but my garden beds are on the north side of the house so they get a decent amount of shade in the dead of winter, so nothing is really happy outside of the growing season anyway
I haven’t noticed any adverse effects. I get great crops. Soil seems healthy. The leaves that remain are usually enough to scatter around seedlings in the early spring but also keep weed pressure down. It’s easy and it works for me ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Edit: I should note, I have fairly tall raised beds so drainage doesn’t seem to be an issue for me.
No. We mulch over our veggie gardens with leaves every winter, and then come spring we grind them into the soil with the rototiller for good nutrients. (Also a PNW’er, Victoria BC)
That’s exactly what my beds look like. I’ve been doing that for years and the soil is healthy and weeds suppressed
The leaves will break down in time, and the garden worms will help with that too. I’ve used leaf mulch for years and it’s great for keeping weeds down. Just pull back the mulch next spring around plants, or along a seed row.
Pollinators overwinter in leaves. Leave them intact and you’ll get more pollinators.
It depends on your purpose for the mulch. I cover my garden with about two feet of oak leaves every fall, but that’s because I have buried a dozen fig trees in the garden and am using the leaves as insulation. I rake them off in the spring when I unbury the figs then use them as mulch around the trees. They are usually pretty much gone by next fall.
High in phosphorus which is good for root growth. Maybe shed them but it is healthy for the soil
No 🙂
Nah but it’ll get you way more lightning bugs, butterflies & moths next year!
I bury the leaves. Turns to earth by fall, every year.
Hoe enough dirt to one corner, layer leaves, cover. Winter.
Plant seeds in dirt layer and let things happen in the spring.
Repeat.
Works till it doesn’t.
Your garden is ruined now.
My leaves (coast live oak) are flat out vicious so i use a shredding leaf vac, but yours look fine.
I bought a shredder but seriously don’t see what the problem is here. I’ve done this I ended turning it in when spring came.
I take leaves from trees in my yard and also my neighbors’ yard, and just throw them all around my plants and in my garden beds. I swear by June they’re completely dried up and broken down, back as one with the soil.
OP: nope
https://preview.redd.it/kls1xeo5uh6g1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7333f0e13043a3738dffdd25b2be59d037a6a273
leafs from neighborhood large stems and misc. yard brush lightly chopped and mixed piled high and deep
zone 9b Upper Willamette valley, OR
I’ve been dumping them unshredded to save the bugs in them for quite a few years now, gardens look better every year.
No. Un shredded leaves have been mulching the ground for like 100 million years.
This is an amazing weed barrier. I rake them back to plant in spring and recover the area as plants grow.
“Unshredded leaf mulch” you say?
Not to shreds?
Noone shreds leaves in forests and they do just fine.