on not raking leaves
re Terry Ettinger's piece on not raking leaves, I have two questions.
One, is he including oak leaves in this recommendation? They seem to have a half life of about 100 years. Two, he notes that you can plant right tnrough clumps of decomposing leaves, as they will provide nutrition as they break down. I understood that decomposing vegetation steals nitrogen as it decays. ????
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(post #12034, reply #1 of 4)
You're right, oak leaves (and some other kinds) really ought to be mowed in the fall unless you have large areas you simply don't want stuff growing it. On the nitrogen issue, it doesn't rob the soil of nitrogen. If you were to turn under a large amount of sawdust, there might be some nitro tie-up for a short while. But leaves sitting on top of the soil are broken down by microbes and other beasties that eat decaying matter, then to residue becomes part of the upper strata of the topsoil. Still, I think it's a better idea to mow (chop) leaves if you want to leave them in beds or especially on the lawn. Whole leaves can smother things as well as create a nice habitat for slugs, voles, and other undesirables.
Jeana
Never try to baptize a cat.
(post #12034, reply #2 of 4)
Clear the leaves!
When you don't clear leaves from your beds in the fall, here's what happens: in the spring, when bulbs and other early perennials are starting to emerge - the weight of the ice encrusted leaves cause problems. The emerging leaves are yellow/white from being deprived of the warmth of the sun. This is stressful for the plants and for the gardener too. It isn't worth it. If your garden has been mulched with shredded hardwood bark or shredded leaves during the growing season - plants will surely survive the winter, without the extra weight of tree leaves. I compost all yard waste year-round - especially in the fall when fallen leaves are plentiful.
(post #12034, reply #3 of 4)
I have mulch mowed leaves, Oak, Maple, Black Walnut, and made mulches for my planting beds from shredded leaves from Oak, Maple, Chestnut, Beech, etc. leaves for years, and composted them as well with no problems. What I have seen is where the leaves were mulch mowed into the turf the next year that grass grew greener, thicker, faster then other nearby grass that did not get those leaves. On the planting beds the shredded leaf mulch has 1)aided in suppressing "weed" growth, 2)aided in maintaining soil moisture levels better, 3) aided in keeping the soil cooler, and 4)aided in providing needed organic matter to the soil. I have not seen a problem with shredded leaves on a planting bed keeping any plant from growing. However, years ago when I was just starting to learn about gardening (when probably 13 or so) I saw that whole leaves could cause problems with plant growth and determined then that the leaves needed to be shredded.
Nothing, applied to soil as a muilch will "rob" the soil of Nitrogen, but the same material when mixed into the soil, as an amendment, may well cause the soil bacteria to get to work digesting that raw organic matter which will temporarily tie up Nitrogen which could create growth problems for plants. However, that Nitrogen will become available again later.
The sign of a good gardener is brown knees, not a green thumb.
Different leaves:-some species are better than others for value. (post #12034, reply #4 of 4)
Oak leaves are very acidic - and if you want to lower the pH of a soil thay are useful - ( but most people will probably wish to raise their level of pH.)
Beech & Ash are supposed to be better.
I'm sure there's been university papers executed on the NPK analysis, and their respective pH levels of leaves.