I’ve finally reached 100 posts! I’ve been around for over two years so it took me a while. This blog is continuing to gain new direction, and its going to get a twist as I uproot myself to Georgia the beginning of next year. I have recently redone my template and categories and I’m trying to post a bit more. One part of this blog I want to introduce is showing good ideas I come across (wonders) and also all the blunders I also see, along with more how-to’s on gardening tasks.

So there is something I see all the time that makes me cringe: big black bags full of fall leaves and other plant debris destined for the dump. Reading blogs this year, I’ve gained a new appreciation of things like fall leaves. They are great for mulching and compost.

I went out and mowed a good section of lawn covered in leaves, even though it didn’t actually need mowing. The leaves are shredded up (don’t use the bagger on the mower please!) and add good organic matter to the lawn. Usually lawns can handle about two to four inches of leaves mulched right in. (Use the mower and don’t just ignore the leaves. Last year, there where several sections of pretty deep leaves that were left on a section of lawn, and ended up creating nice bare spots underneath. They popped right back, but it’s not very attractive and I still had leaves to deal with in the spring.)

Large trees  that drop too many leaves to be completely mulched into the lawn can be raked onto planting beds.  On bare planting beds, leaves can simply be piled high with out mulching and left to rot.

Fall is also a great time to get to all that compost that didn’t actually get composted. I completely neglected the compost spinner, and also had a large pile of perennial clippings. I got out the mower again and used it to shed everything up and put it on top of the planting beds. Stuff will break down more on it’s own through the winter, no mulch pile or spinner needed.

I was thinking of how much organic matter I’ve wasted. I’ve thrown way too much of it away because I was lazy. Some I’ve dumped off at the local compost center and re-bought it later in the form of compost. Not a bad little system, but in the fall it is pretty easy to mulch material on the beds and let it decompose over winter. You then aren’t faced with the possibility of extra weed seeds and salinity levels that can come from city compost, plus the extra transport and expense.

Gardens are cool–we plant small seeds and end up with huge plants. But do the soil a favor and don’t keep draining it by hauling away all the organic matter. Return it back. Mulch lawn clippings. Leave leaves and other plant debris on beds. Add compost. The soil will get better over time. On looking at the current soil situation in my garden, I have a light brown icky clay. If all the plant matter in that garden wouldn’t have been hauled away over the years and instead added back into the soil, I wouldn’t be looking at that same icky soil.