Leave the Leaves – 5 Minute Friday – In this video I talk about leaving the leaves in your garden rather than raking them up and burning them or sending them off in a truck.
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35 Comments
My red oak leaves are very leathery. They don’t break down over winter. Should I still leave them?
I have loads of leaves every year from a large maple and several oaks, and have always tried to use them for either making compost or mulching. But now I'm wondering after watching another gardener's video (different state) where "jumping worms" were mentioned, and a caution was given about leaves attracting them. So, my question is, should I be concerned about using them as mulch here in Western NC?
Great video and it needs to be said to remove leaves from hardscape, especially in an urban environment. Wet leaves are slippery on the sidewalk and leaves on the road end up clogging the storm drains. I find that keeping my sidewalk, stone paths and street clear of leaves–creating neatness–really makes the leaves in my beds looks intentional and, therefore, tidy. Cues for care, as they say.
I have done this for years and it makes gardening so much easier and less expensive! The results are amazing! Thanks Jim!👍🏻
Hey Jim,
Can golden falls redbud live in a container?
Thanks Jim, great information!! 🍂🍁
We have jumping worms. They say not to leave them(ompaceint gardener😮)
Good advice but lousy speaker. Take a public speaking class.
We rake some of our leaves and grind them in a leaf mulcher. Free mulch! Hubby just mows over others.
The leaves I love, the acorns are a bit of a hazard though 😊
C'mon squirrels! 😂
Hi Jim – I'm breaking down my leaves and putting them back into flower beds. To have everything look tidy, do I also need to add pine straw once the leaves are all down? Or is that too much? Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us!
I’ve always shredded them and used for mulch or if it’s dry and not too deep just mulch it into the lawn and I do keep a nice lawn. If I backed up to woods I would definitely just blow it all into there and be done with it as ik many people that do
Good timing, I'm knee deep in leaf season!
Not only do I leave the leaves but I also so steal the leaves (from neighbors). Good reminder about keeping an eye on the perennials. Happy fall gardening Northern hemisphere folks!
I’ve been over my container garden, large pots and compost in large black plastic bags. It’s amazing how much mulch you can make with leaves right in my backyard
Thank you Jim! Yes, my leaves go whole into the veggie garden, works very well the spring!
I live in a very wet climate and have tons of slugs and snails. I don't leave any debris in my garden for this reason. They would thank me profusely for giving them all that warm winter protection by devouring every new shoot that emerged in spring. As it is I spend the whole growing season picking them up and hucking them into the ravine as I abhor chemicals even more than the slugs and it is too gross to squish them. I do give the beds a layer of sea soil mulch which the slugs hate and the plants love.
Our big garden maintenance task here in the NC Sandhills not dealing with leaves but constant keeping the natural longleaf pinestraw "dump" off shrubs and perennials. Two thirds of our property is actually covered in straw. We've tried to work with the existing huge longleaf pines so that we have a constant "fresh" look. But most of the cleanup is done by hand. Tedious, but a lovely natural look. We do need to rake the straw off small areas of turf. Totally agree with your philosophy that a garden can be beautiful without being perfectly manicured! Thanks, Jim and Stefany!
I love the 5 minute Fridays…even if they're 10 minutes! LOL! Thanks to you, Jim, I'm leaving my leaves. I don't like the look through the winter but they do keep the weeds down. I go through the beds with a long bladed trimmer and whack the oak leaves up so they'll break down easier over winter.
Welcome to my neighborhood! I live just outside of Prescott. Where were you in this video. Looks familiar!
Yes, we’ve been doing this for years also plus grass clippings.
❤THANK YOU for these Great Tips and Suggestions..
i put all my leaves and my neighbors on my veggie garden every year. this year im trying to make some leaf mold.
I really enjoy these 10 minute Friday videos
I took my father in laws leaves last year and it made my clay way better to work with
We do throw our grass clippings in the beds as a mulch. I like a garden neat and tidy, so the leaves must go. It would make me crazy if our garden looked messy. 😂
Like your hat! I’m trying to leave all leaves in place. It’s an experiment to see what happens with the grass etc. It looks beautiful right now.💖😊🍁🍁🍁🙏🙌
Great video. Thank you both !!!
As always good information! by the way my son just told me about a reverse leaf blower thing, like a vacuum that picks up and shreds the leaves, then they can be easily added to the garden. hand held. made by a company called echo. got to get one!
Excellent video. My habits have changed so much over the last few years. Realizing how beneficial it is to our garden. I was one of those who did not want to see one leaf in my garden bed. Yikes! I am still confused about spring/summer if I want the garden to look more manicured. Mulch on top, or remove leaves, then mulch? I like what you said, the forest floor wants to be covered. Part of God's plan!
Due to voles, I rake leaves for a pile of compost in a raised bed. But I know leaves make best compost. When voles are gone I will leave leaves in place.
I got acres and acres of free mulch LOL!!!! Thank you trees!!! 🌳 🤍🤍🤍🪴🪴🪴
I mulch my leaves and and a lot of the neighbors leaves. I put cardboard down and put the mulched leaves in between the plants to keep the weeds down. By Spring the worms have eaten all the cardboard and I have so many birds out there in my Garden digging through the leaves. I have seen the Robins moving pieces of my cardboard to get to the worms underneath. They are so smart. I love it.
Those of us in burbia suffer people up in our business about leaving the leaves. Preach on so these people stop giving us dirty looks.
Jim, Steph,
Great advice, as always! 😊