Leaf them alone: Two reasons to rake less
But it did something else. That snow knocked millions of leaves off thousands of lawns across the Main Line. So you know what that means: it’s time for two time-honored but environmentally tragic chores, leaf-blowing and leaf-raking. Before you run to the hardware store for those big leaf bags (which will be in short supply this weekend anyway), reconsider this monumental waste of time and effort. Since these leaves are a totally free, totally organic, amazingly complete lawn-care chemicals, it’s time for my annual plea for you to join me in committing a small piece of public anarchy. In our suburban world of spotless green lawns – which may be as American as apple pie – consider not raking those leaves, or at least not as many. For those leaves falling off your trees are filled with the exact nutrients in the perfect combination your lawn needs as nutrition, and a wide array of critters from bacteria on up have evolved with the express purpose of decomposing those leaves. Yet we pay strangers beaucoup bucks to blow every leaf off our precious green lawns, at 7 in the morning on a Sunday, no less, spewing smog into the air from their unregulated leaf-blowers and waking us all with their dismal din. Then we pay someone Chemlawn-ish to pour buckets of nutrient-rich fertilizers onto those now nutrient-starved lawns, not realizing that most of the fertilizer runs off the property when the first rainfall comes anyway. We’d simply save tons of time, energy and money if the nutrients stored in those leaves were simply put back directly where they belong – on your lawn. As Mike McGrath, the gonzo gardener who hosts WHYY’s “You Bet Your Garden” on Saturday mornings, loves to remind us, use a mulching mower to chop them (much more effective when the leaves are dry than wet), and leave them in place. Right there on the lawn.Common Compost Bugs - News
They're the ones for which the “bugs” that do the work of making compost are most hungry. Work is too strong a word, though, because these composting bugs do nothing more than eat. And a balanced diet — one balanced mostly with respect to carbon and
Medium-release materials such as compost work for a year or so. Materials that break down more slowly, such as Canadian peat moss and fine pine bark mulch, will last two to three years. Q: Is there a grass I can plant from seed that looks like St.
Some people compost their leaves, which is also great, but surprisingly few of us use the resulting compost as often as we might. Mulching in place saves incredible amounts of precious energy while feeding the lawn organically, skipping fertilizers
The speed with which your compost breaks down, the efficiency of maintaining your compost pile (to keep the smell and bugs down), and the potency of the nutrient-rich humus your compost creates is a slightly different story. Thus, all of the techniques
Guerneville Regional Library, 14107 Armstrong Woods Rd. Composting Demonstration: Whether your garden has sandy soil or thick, adobe clay, the addition of nutritious compost can make it easier to work and more productive. Master Gardeners Leonard Carl