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Shredded Leaves

Shredded LeavesWith the recent blast of warm weather here in New Jersey, I've managed to finally finish closing my vegetable garden for the winter. Better late than never, I always say.

Not only do I like to add a heaping of compost to my raised beds every spring, I also like to add shredded leaves in fall. The shredded leaves serve as a mulch so that I don't loose too much of that easily workable, organic matter packed, garden soil.

And since my lazy neighbor's leaves have found a winter home by getting blown across the street into my yard, why not shred them. With my leaf blower configured to leaf vacuum mode, I sucked up a few bags full of leaves for the garden.

When spring comes, I'll just turn the shredded leaves over in the soil and that'll add even more organic matter to the mix. That means more worms, less watering and a host of other benefits. Shredded leaves are almost as good as finished compost.

Who says I never finish anything, my garden is now tucked in nicely for winter and the yard is cleaned up too. If you ignore the January part, I'm looking like an overachiever.

3 Comments:

  1. Anonymous said...
    Hi Anthony

    Do you use any special equipment to shred your leaves? I gathered and stored copious amounts of leaves last (Southern Hemisphere) fall. I have them stored in black polythene bags but I fear it's going to take years for them to break down. I do use some as the brown layer in compost though.
    Ki said...
    You'll be proud of me. This year I collected all of our leaves (and our neighbor's windblown leaves) raked them in a pile and used my mower to shred them. Used it as compost around the more tender plants and will work them into the soil when the weather gets warmer. See all your articles had some effect.
    Anthony said...
    KiwiKeith, Thanks for stopping by. I use the leaf vacuum attachment to my leaf blower. Definitely not a great tool for huge amounts of leaves but it gets the job done. Poke a few holes in those bags and you'll have leaf mold by the spring. Almost as good as compost.

    Ki, Nice work! My mower died just as the grass stopped growing this fall/winter (nice timing) so I didn't have the option to shred with the mower. But it's nice to hear that my little blog is having some effect. :)

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