Back in the 80s, my grandmother gifted me with this anonymous poem she remembered from her school lessons. It's one of my most treasured gifts. "Come little leaves, said the wind one day Come over the meadow with me and play Put on your dresses of red and gold Summer is gone and the days grow cold Soon fast asleep in their earthly beds, the snow laid a soft blanket over their heads." I'm getting emotional thinking of this poem and my beloved grandmother who loved poetry so much. She used to say, "Can't you see them dancing?" Yes. Yes, I can.
Yes, I live in the Texas Panhandle and we are one of the windiest places on the planet! I leave my large catalpa leaves around my roses and they seem to stay put because I have them planted deeper than my grass by a couple of inches and then have about 1 ft circumference around them. The water still gets to them this way and the clean up isn't hard in the spring. I do the same in 3 small beds that I have flowers planted in. I do wet them down when I water throughout the winter and it works for me. I didn't know about the blood meal. I will absolutely be buying a bag of that! I just trusted the rain and snow to put that nitrogen into them previously but blood meal makes a lot of sense! I do turn my leaves, along with gypsom, into my gardens where possible in the spring and that has really helped my hard soil problems! Good idea with the soil from containers! I do that, as well, but not always on top of the leaves. Ha! We have a huge mess of leaves! They came off our catalpas several days ago. Now, we had another harsh cold blast in the past several days and the neighbors leaves are falling into my yard, now. Our winds are primarily out of the south west and that brings them straight over here! We have a low 3 ft fence around our front yard. It keeps a few out, maybe, but all of them that get in, stay in! Ugh!!! Our neighbor has over 20 trees on a regular city sized lot. Some are evergreens but most have a mess of leaves! 😜
@Jake is right, this is what I do and this really helps after winter they are packed down enough and stay in place if you leave them, I just move mine out of the way, plant and mulch them back around them again, Careful though,..if you pile them on a living plant and do not remove, it could smother it, if the plant is too buried that it cannot make it threw them in the spring, oak leaves are the best for smothering unwanted plants, like grass to make new flower beds, saves on tiller laboring, Happy Gardening everyone. Thank you for your videos Laura, you are such a sweetheart...Aaron too.
If you're in the northeast United States, when handling leaves, always wear gloves and cover all exposed skin, including your head. Lyme disease, people. Ticks are always in the leaves. And when you're done, give yourself a good lookover and ask someone to look at your back (or use a mirror).
@@teresaandrews3492 I know that. I don't live in the Pacific northwest. I live in the northeast, not too far from *Lyme* Connecticut, where this whole mess was first discovered.
Lyme Dieses has been detected in 49 States (excluding Hawaii), Canada, Europe etc. There are many new bacterial tick infections on the rise too. There is one that is making deers & moose “wasting” away in the US & Canada that can be transmitted to humans. Very sad. YES. this post is a excellent reminder to beware. This is coming from someone that ended up with lyme disease. IT was a nightmare. Look into Dr Joel Fuhrman’s books Super Immunity and also Eat to Live if you have lyme. Dr Fuhrman’s methods saved me. Also look at the free documentary on you tube called “Super Juice me”. This gives a great visual of how good clean food really does heal the body. And look at Dr Mindy Peltz & Dr Bergs water fasting videos. Check with a doctor before changing your diet. Lyme disease IS an epidemic. If you have not heard the US Congress has authorized the release of all Bio terrorism research data from the 1950’s to present on Lyme disease. It is believe that it originated at the Us Government Plum Island Lab in Long Island (which is directly across from Lyme Connecticut). Lyme disease is believe to be a man man bio terrorism weapon made just after WW11 when the lab hired a Nazi German Scientist to run the lab...so crazy & scary that they hired this former Nazi German Scientist to run a top secret US Government lab. Look up the Daily Mail article from a month ago on "Lyme Disease Bio War fare weapon".
Laura: Another excellent and helpful video. We need to try this! As a 77-year old father and grandfather may I make a suggestion--no, make that a request? Please use adequate hearing protection when using your blower or driving the tractor. Maybe you do and I just can't see it in the video. Hearing loss is cumulative and is irreversible. Take it from someone who learned "almost" too late. :)
I am a firm believer in using leaves to build the soil. Each year we add more leaves, and the worms are so happy. I find that the worms help to create air pockets in the leaves. I have so many oak tree leaves and other trees in my garden. I am thankful for this video!
Ha! i remember 50 years ago when i had your energy, my gardens although much smaller than yours, looked so nice. your videos bring back good memories and provide me much pleasure. thank you
A little tip: I’ve found with our JD lawnmower that it is easier to mulch leaves if you back over them rather than drive forward over them. It keeps them from piling up and pushing them around! 🍁
I already use my leaves for that purpose but did not know about the blood meal! I also use the leaves for insulation for my roses & other plants & I do remove the leaves in the Spring! I always learn more from watching your videos to improve my gardening techniques - thank you! 😊🍁🍂🍁🍂🌿🌨❄🌿🍂🍁🌿
My daughter‘s fourth grade Gifted group is creating a sustainable garden this year. Your videos have been so helpful as I try to help her understand certain concepts and has inspired her to come up with her own creative ideas to contribute to their project.
I've been doing this diligently for three years ( I'm dubbed the leaf thief lol) . Been putting them in with my chicken for a few reasons: gives them something to do, creates free worm food for them, and they a the best rota tillers in the world, their manure is awesome nitrogen! There is your best compost in the world!!!! Hope this helps as well. Thank you for the video Laura 🧡😊
We always use leaves and grass clippings as mulch. Improves the soil keeps weeds down and encourages thousands of earthworms that are beneficial. We collect leaves from the neighbors as well rather than seeing them go to landfill.
I do this also, I add compost, chopped leaves and then add well broken down wood chips, it feeds the soil, and when you plant next year, the soil is like gold!
I have a bed which I planned to add compost to even it out as it has gotten thinned over the years then planning to add leaves then shredded mulch over top to keep the leaves down for this winter and because I just need more mulch in that bed. If I mulch the leaves is it necessary to remove them in the spring? I thought the whole point of this is to improve the soil and create better soil so why would I remove the leaves? And will my spring bulbs and newly planted perennials pop through the compost, leaves, and mulch I put down this fall? If anyone can answer I would appreciate it as I need to accomplish this in the next week or so while the weather holds out. I am in zone 6a. Thank you so much to Laura and all of you experienced gardeners out there who I hope will help me out!!
@@Moondancer_15 I would not remove the leaves or the mulch in the spring, just slightly push it aside and plant, as the plant grows push the material back around it. Your perennials will pop up through it, now worries.
@@Moondancer_15 - The idea here is to get the leaves cut into smallest size, put them Into the soil, and they will break down in the soil, improving it, adding some nutrients, and providing more food for your plants in there.. Adding the Blood Meal to help add the Nitrogen part of a good fertilizer is also helpful and will speed up the process as well...If you look closely at forest land, it is usually full of leaves, needles, sometimes several feet high in places... Left alone over several years, they will all break down to a nice black compost... I saw this happen everywhere when I lived in the Pacific Northwest for 11 years. That almost constant moisture, rain, snow in winter, and sometimes a couple months of sunlight, and we had enough compost just from all the 200 foot maple trees alone... Good luck with your project ! Fran Danco
I was lucky to be blessed with enough leaves from the trees to last a lifetime.....and I do compost but there is so much, this gives me an idea on how to use them all!
I add my kitchen scraps in the soil. I dig and add them and cover. No odors and the earthworms love them! They transformed my soil from compacted with nothing grown on top to rich black soft soil the last four years. I add the leafs from my trees on top as well as they fall.
I'm in Southern California, zone 9a and watching you is like having an instruction manual for gardening!!! I know that what you just showed me in a video, I'll do about one month later! You have made my life much easier, I'm so very grateful💖
I fill my flower beds with leaves as well. I find that many ladybugs will hibernate in the leave and bark chip combination. I lost all my roses to an especially bitter cold Canadian winter so last year I put box-shaped insulated wraps from my beehives on my roses and filled with leaves. I didn't lose any roses and we had another bitterly cold winter.
I did this at my parents' house yesterday. Oak leaves are very resistant to shredding. My Toro leaf blower-mulcher just didn't cut it. Ended up blowing the leaves into giant piles and mowing over them multiple times and then sucking them up with the leaf mulcher. Made a huge difference. Put the leaves mainly around the newer trees and shrubs. Northern IL winters can be nasty, and after such a brutally hot & dry year, this gives me some peace of mind going into winter. I didn't bother with blood meal, so we'll see how it goes. I read that should be used in spring (don't want to encourage growth now) and it's only effective as animal repellant when dry. :-/
"Easy Peesy" as you would chant Laura. The day I decided to wake up and do this we had 20cm of snow here in Windsor Ontario. Oh wellllllll. Shall try again later....If things dry out sufficiently. Love your presentations. You put a smile on my face and I find myself laughing out loud at some of your Free Spirited comments. You Are one special woman Laura.
I do this every year with leaves and pond debri turned into my veggie bed. Had no idea adding blood meal would help. So adding this once the rain stops.
I too wondered about blood meal (literally made from blood from livestock processing) I tried it as a deterrent once before when one of my dogs dug up everything I tried planting- it seemed to have the exact opposite effect and she went after it even more 🤬. Now I’m like 😬 I dunno if I wanna try it again + its super Stanky 😂 it definitely repelled me.
Margo L. Don’t know if this was for me or Laura, but I place compost in both flower and veggie garden. The blood I’ve added to flowers so I”ll try veggies next year.
@@margol.3169 -Not if the leaves are kept wet so they don' move so easily.. Sometimes if you have some extra dirt from the area, just use that to sprinkle all over the top of the leaves and it will help keep them in place too... And will also help speed up the decomposition process... Don't forget if you can, to add a little Nitrogen to the pile and water it in so it can start working for you...
I try for 4 inches of leaves on my beds each fall. I use trellises to keep the leaves in place as we get a lot of wind but putting them down just before a big snow storm works too. Never put blood meal down however my soil improved after the first time and the worms love them. I will be asking neighbours for donations as I am short this year. I would love to see how much compost you could make cause your lot is huge and full of trees.
I clean out the chicken pen and pour on top of the leaves. It won't burn the plants in the Fall but helps to break down the leaves well. My soil is fabulous. I have had no trouble with matting of the leaves, so I don't bother cutting them up.
Good for you! I give you soooo much credit for composting your leaves! I am the ONLY one in my neighborhood who composts them - as soon as one falls my neighbors run out & pick them up for the garbage which is such of waste of an excellent (and free) resource for the yard. The shredded leaves will even rejuvenate bald spots in the lawn and I have found will rejuvenate a sick tree! Thank You for posting this!
we always use grass cuttings on the beds, as we are solid clay it helps break down the stickiness of the clay. Not many leaves in my garden so we do what we can. X x
I use my leaf blower function which actually becomes a vacuum and shreds the leaves. Good to know about adding bone meal...I'll get right on it! Thanks!
Hey Laura, Watch everyday, I just bought a blower that mulches to, we have 3 trees, but we live across from a treed lot, our neighbors never pick up leaves and they blow to our side of the street, your video has really educated me, thanks again.
Coffee with Laura and great timing as the lawn guys at the college were getting the leaves off the lawns the other day. I will have to email them and see if I can get some of the shredded leaves for our garden beds. Or just make it an activity for the children and they can tear up the leaves lol
REALLY looking forward to the irrigation blow out video Laura! You have inspired so many to put it in our gardens, now we NEED to see how to winter them! Love your vids!!
Thank you. I too took my leaves and added them to the raised beds. I will add the grass in the spring, maybe in April. Last year was my first time here and tried "no dig" gardening. I used moving boxes to cover the 20 year old weeds. This year I will dig only where I put seeds or seedlings, using the layer of leaves and grass to stop the weed growth. I like no dig gardening. Everything came up well, without weeding. I prefer leaves and grass instead of cardboard (chemicals) to stop weed growth.
This is fantastic! So excited to do this with our leaves! I also have to say, Laura, you are a PRO with that leaf blower! You make it look so easy but it definitely takes practice. I bought my husband the Dewalt leaf blower you recommend for his birthday last month. Tried it out this week and...well, it would make a great blooper reel. It's me, not the blower; gotta keep practicing! Ha ha!
I’ve bought Echo blower and Honda mower along with a bunch of other things for my husband...and after a few months they no longer work. I tell it’s HIM and not the products.
Love when the fall comes. We have an array of trees behind our property and when the leaves fall we shred them and mulch our garlic and onion beds. Thanks for sharing 😀
Laura, I can't figure out how someone in your age group can be soooo knowledgeable about all things gardening - a combination of parental teaching and self motivated learning skills, I'm guessing. At any rate, you have got it goin' on, girl! Thank you for sharing your knowledge and yourself with all of us!
Hello I love your passion, energy and all your gardening tips Lots of gum trees where I live and I add some of the leaves in my compost bin, they seem to break down ok I don’t have any lovely deciduous trees like you have in my garden however Cheers from Melbourne Australia 🙋♀️❤️
This video rocked my world. I have spent several weeks watching videos and reading articles about composting. I have felt so intimidated about the whole thing especially how to build or buy a composter, which can be very expensive. I don't know why, but I never thought to just use my raised beds as a kind of composter! It is so obvious and so simple the way you did it. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
I have been doing this for years it's great for keeping down the weeds in my extensive flower beds as well as good for them. We have an army of nightcrawlers in our soil they love it. I love our woods mower I can back up to the spot I want the leaves and pull the lever on the hopper and it releases them where I want them.💜 I love that mower and it's an old one now.
Good job Laura! A terrific garden practice that helps the soil and the whole backyard ecosystem. Following advice from the Mt. Cuba Center, a botanical garden and education center that specializes in native plants, I have switched over to using shredded leaves for all my mulching all year round - when you use it consistently throughout your garden, it looks intentional and natural at the same time! And the shredded leaves on the beds through the winter provide habitat for all kinds of good bugs, that in turn provide food for the birds....it's a win, win, win.
I am sooo happy you did a video on using leaves in the landscape. SO many people bag their leaves and throw them out because they dont know any better, such a waste !! It is great to see how we can utilize what free resources we have. Thanks for the great information on compost process. Are you planning on doing a video in the future simply about composting ?
Thank you. This is very helpful. I’ve been reading that it is also beneficial to your lawn to leave a light layer of mulched leaves on it for the winter.
For my flower beds, I lay some leaves and then dump the soil from my pots on top. Sort of like lasagna. This helps keeps the leaves from blowing. I also literally put leaves in plastic garbage cans cause I have too many. The blood meal is a great idea. If I don't have any blood meal, could I use grass fertilizer - it's the only high nitrogen amendment I have handy.
make sure you soak your leaf mulch down so it stays in place. know from experience always use my leaves to mulch all landscape beds to smother grass and weeds.
Okay, I did this right after watching the video!! It's very windy here at my house and I was surprised that it didn't blow away once it was put in the beds. However, I checked on it a few hours later - still there but instead of being that pretty yellow and orange color it turned BROWN - sooo fast!! 🤣 I didn't think of it turning so fast - lol!! Oh-well, it looks like natural mulch. 👍 Thanks Laura!!
It’s great to educate people on in-home use of leaves, rather than seeing them bagged up and removed. Leaf mold creation adds great benefit to garden beds. Even the grass will benefit from a fine covering of leaves(not too thick) I have a chopped leaf bin next to my compost unit. Each time I add kitchen waste, I cover it with a generous layer of those leaves. I also have a compost unit dedicated to making leaf mold. Mulching with chopped leaves is invaluable.
We have been mulching our leaves into our st Augustine grass for years. I may bag some this year and put in the flower and garden beds. Great video. Tfs. 👏🏻👏🏻
Years ago in Science class, the classmates had to gather Autumn leaves to place in the garden plot. I gathered leaves in a wood area away from my parents home. The leaves were in advance brown/black decomposition and were used to enrich the soil. Thank you for sharing.
GREAT video!!! I often wondered what you do with all your leaves and or all the plants (annuals etc…) you pull out to plant other things you never really talk about composting. I’m excited to see that those leaves are serving their purpose👍 Thanks Laura! Love your channel🥰
She could mow them up and toss them into a compost pile or simply toss them into the dumpster. They're going to break down no matter where their "final" resting place is.
Hi Laura! So nice that your mower didn't clog ~ good job! It's nice that you can recycle all of your leaves like that. Everything you said made perfect sense, as usual! Thank you for sharing!
I did a light cover of leaves mixed with compost and put cardboard over them to bring the worms up. Will add more compost in the spring and using shredded leaves for mulch. Hoping for good results
Very helpful! I can't wait to get some trees planted in our new yard so I can do that. Blood meal was new to me and I'm definitely going to look into that. Thanks again Laura!
It’s so nice to have a new video in the morning to hopefully inspire me to do something outside today. Just got a few inches of snow yesterday and in Iowa this is unusual for October. Wish me luck!
Spokane is zone 5 and I have 2 Spanish Dagger yuccas that are doing great. In fact I took my inspiration from a local commercial landscape that had a large clump planted in a area that gets the street snow plowed over it. It defrosts every spring and pushes up beautiful flower stalks by early summer
I use leaves for insulation in my garden it works very well I like the idea to chop it up for the veggie garden thank you for sharing 💖 God bless you and your family
Just an FYI, I did see someone who was explaining a leaf mulch say that used coffee ground works for added nitrate. I'm really glad because I CERTAINLY have enough of that. lol
K MacC - Oh absolutely, coffee grounds will make the worms go wild about eating the soil up and leaving all their awesome castings behind which further improve the soil ! I have heard of people going to places like Starbucks and getting permission to take all their coffee grounds they throw away, so that is nice too...
AWESOME INFO!!! THANK YOU LAURA. I have hard riverbed dirt, I can't even call it soil, so I am pleased to learn that all my dry leaves can be used for good!! Thank you so much.
Awesome! I compost not only food leftovers, but leaves from my trees as well. Very fun to watch it turn into pure organic compost! Also that Spanish Dagger Yucca is hardy to zone 6, so it could survive in a protected location or in your greenhouse. I have heard of them suriviving temps near -10°F. 🍃🍂
Great video 👍 Very informative! I'm going to follow your example this year. I've been gardening for only a year and was concerned about leaving my beds dormant and w/o nutrients for the winter. Now I know! Thanks 😊
I use my local leaves as well, It must depend on species which whole leaves don’t break down well.. ash, maple, and dogwood break down easily. Great point about the thick leaf mulch. Agapanthus seem to be hardier than on the tag, I had a zone 8 return every year for 3 years. Navy Blue is a hardy cultivar.
Excellent video! I don’t have enough leaves and will drive around grabbing bags of leaves from neighbors. I throw them in my chicken yard and they spend the winter mulching them down. Win, win!
Hi in the UK/Britain we also make leaf mould! It’s much like compost in that you would put it into a compost bay and leave it for a year or in smaller gardens you can bag it up in black plastic bags and poke some holes in with a garden fork. The leaf mould that results in a years time is excellent for improving soil for woodland type plants that you mayPlant in shade it’s also good to mix with saved garden soil to start seeds in. You probably know this it’s just that you didn’t mention it in your video.
My dog went after the bone meal, my guess is he would love the blood meal also. 🤣 I did this yesterday!!! I’m so proud of myself then to see this video today! I’m kickin ass! ❤️❤️👷♀️😚
This is so great. I actually have a leaf shredder that I can put a bag under if needed. I’m afraid to use the blood meal in the backyard. I think my dog would just want to eat it! She does that when I put down Holly Tone too. But maybe if I water it in it might help.
Leaf mould is even better than common compost. Since it's mostly fungi that decomposes them. Also, leaves improve soil texture way more. You can even use it as sowing soil (fully decomposed and sifted).
Back in the 80s, my grandmother gifted me with this anonymous poem she remembered from her school lessons. It's one of my most treasured gifts.
"Come little leaves, said the wind one day
Come over the meadow with me and play
Put on your dresses of red and gold
Summer is gone and the days grow cold
Soon fast asleep in their earthly beds, the snow laid a soft blanket over their heads."
I'm getting emotional thinking of this poem and my beloved grandmother who loved poetry so much. She used to say, "Can't you see them dancing?"
Yes. Yes, I can.
This came from my memory, that's how much it touched my heart.
What a sweet poem and even more so since it came from your grandmother
Thank you so much for sharing! How beautiful ❤️❤️❤️
Kate Hillenbrand . That was beautiful. Thank you for sharing!
@@Edu_Kate Thanks Kate for sharing this. It's beautiful!
Girl I envy how you make time to not only look good, curl that hair, make an informative video and use high powered lawn tools. Bravo this is goals!
If the leaves are really dry, I'd hose it down after laying it on the bed so they don't blow all over the place.
Hi
I also add used container soil on top of the leaves to hold them down.
@@sherry2836 That's smart.
Yes, I live in the Texas Panhandle and we are one of the windiest places on the planet! I leave my large catalpa leaves around my roses and they seem to stay put because I have them planted deeper than my grass by a couple of inches and then have about 1 ft circumference around them. The water still gets to them this way and the clean up isn't hard in the spring. I do the same in 3 small beds that I have flowers planted in. I do wet them down when I water throughout the winter and it works for me. I didn't know about the blood meal. I will absolutely be buying a bag of that! I just trusted the rain and snow to put that nitrogen into them previously but blood meal makes a lot of sense! I do turn my leaves, along with gypsom, into my gardens where possible in the spring and that has really helped my hard soil problems!
Good idea with the soil from containers! I do that, as well, but not always on top of the leaves. Ha!
We have a huge mess of leaves! They came off our catalpas several days ago. Now, we had another harsh cold blast in the past several days and the neighbors leaves are falling into my yard, now. Our winds are primarily out of the south west and that brings them straight over here! We have a low 3 ft fence around our front yard. It keeps a few out, maybe, but all of them that get in, stay in! Ugh!!! Our neighbor has over 20 trees on a regular city sized lot. Some are evergreens but most have a mess of leaves! 😜
@Jake is right, this is what I do and this really helps after winter they are packed down enough and stay in place if you leave them, I just move mine out of the way, plant and mulch them back around them again, Careful though,..if you pile them on a living plant and do not remove, it could smother it, if the plant is too buried that it cannot make it threw them in the spring, oak leaves are the best for smothering unwanted plants, like grass to make new flower beds, saves on tiller laboring, Happy Gardening everyone. Thank you for your videos Laura, you are such a sweetheart...Aaron too.
If you're in the northeast United States, when handling leaves, always wear gloves and cover all exposed skin, including your head. Lyme disease, people. Ticks are always in the leaves. And when you're done, give yourself a good lookover and ask someone to look at your back (or use a mirror).
Shes in the PNW lives in Oregon
Thanks for the tip as I live in New Hampshire!
@@teresaandrews3492 I know that. I don't live in the Pacific northwest. I live in the northeast, not too far from *Lyme* Connecticut, where this whole mess was first discovered.
Lyme Dieses has been detected in 49 States (excluding Hawaii), Canada, Europe etc. There are many new bacterial tick infections on the rise too. There is one that is making deers & moose “wasting” away in the US & Canada that can be transmitted to humans. Very sad. YES. this post is a excellent reminder to beware. This is coming from someone that ended up with lyme disease. IT was a nightmare. Look into Dr Joel Fuhrman’s books Super Immunity and also Eat to Live if you have lyme. Dr Fuhrman’s methods saved me. Also look at the free documentary on you tube called “Super Juice me”. This gives a great visual of how good clean food really does heal the body. And look at Dr Mindy Peltz & Dr Bergs water fasting videos. Check with a doctor before changing your diet. Lyme disease IS an epidemic. If you have not heard the US Congress has authorized the release of all Bio terrorism research data from the 1950’s to present on Lyme disease. It is believe that it originated at the Us Government Plum Island Lab in Long Island (which is directly across from Lyme Connecticut). Lyme disease is believe to be a man man bio terrorism weapon made just after WW11 when the lab hired a Nazi German Scientist to run the lab...so crazy & scary that they hired this former Nazi German Scientist to run a top secret US Government lab. Look up the Daily Mail article from a month ago on "Lyme Disease Bio War fare weapon".
This is so true I have had Lymes it's not fun!
Laura: Another excellent and helpful video. We need to try this! As a 77-year old father and grandfather may I make a suggestion--no, make that a request? Please use adequate hearing protection when using your blower or driving the tractor. Maybe you do and I just can't see it in the video. Hearing loss is cumulative and is irreversible. Take it from someone who learned "almost" too late. :)
I am a firm believer in using leaves to build the soil. Each year we add more leaves, and the worms are so happy. I find that the worms help to create air pockets in the leaves. I have so many oak tree leaves and other trees in my garden. I am thankful for this video!
Ha! i remember 50 years ago when i had your energy, my gardens although much smaller than yours, looked so nice. your videos bring back good memories and provide me much pleasure. thank you
Sweet comment. Do you still garden?
A little tip: I’ve found with our JD lawnmower that it is easier to mulch leaves if you back over them rather than drive forward over them. It keeps them from piling up and pushing them around! 🍁
I already use my leaves for that purpose but did not know about the blood meal! I also use the leaves for insulation for my roses & other plants & I do remove the leaves in the Spring! I always learn more from watching your videos to improve my gardening techniques - thank you! 😊🍁🍂🍁🍂🌿🌨❄🌿🍂🍁🌿
Just re-watched this two-year-old video and my, oh my, how things have changed. I'm so proud of you two. ~ Lisa
My daughter‘s fourth grade Gifted group is creating a sustainable garden this year. Your videos have been so helpful as I try to help her understand certain concepts and has inspired her to come up with her own creative ideas to contribute to their project.
Perfect timing, more content like this please.
I've been doing this diligently for three years ( I'm dubbed the leaf thief lol) . Been putting them in with my chicken for a few reasons: gives them something to do, creates free worm food for them, and they a the best rota tillers in the world, their manure is awesome nitrogen! There is your best compost in the world!!!! Hope this helps as well. Thank you for the video Laura 🧡😊
We always use leaves and grass clippings as mulch. Improves the soil keeps weeds down and encourages thousands of earthworms that are beneficial. We collect leaves from the neighbors as well rather than seeing them go to landfill.
Even in the dying off stage, your gardens look so lovely. I'm inclined to think, the attitude of the Gardener plays a huge part. Haha 😊
I do this also, I add compost, chopped leaves and then add well broken down wood chips, it feeds the soil, and when you plant next year, the soil is like gold!
I have a bed which I planned to add compost to even it out as it has gotten thinned over the years then planning to add leaves then shredded mulch over top to keep the leaves down for this winter and because I just need more mulch in that bed. If I mulch the leaves is it necessary to remove them in the spring? I thought the whole point of this is to improve the soil and create better soil so why would I remove the leaves? And will my spring bulbs and newly planted perennials pop through the compost, leaves, and mulch I put down this fall? If anyone can answer I would appreciate it as I need to accomplish this in the next week or so while the weather holds out. I am in zone 6a. Thank you so much to Laura and all of you experienced gardeners out there who I hope will help me out!!
@@Moondancer_15 I would not remove the leaves or the mulch in the spring, just slightly push it aside and plant, as the plant grows push the material back around it. Your perennials will pop up through it, now worries.
@@Moondancer_15 - The idea here is to get the leaves cut into smallest size, put them Into the soil, and they will break down in the soil, improving it, adding some nutrients, and providing more food for your plants in there.. Adding the Blood Meal to help add the Nitrogen part of a good fertilizer is also helpful and will speed up the process as well...If you look closely at forest land, it is usually full of leaves, needles, sometimes several feet high in places... Left alone over several years, they will all break down to a nice black compost... I saw this happen everywhere when I lived in the Pacific Northwest for 11 years. That almost constant moisture, rain, snow in winter, and sometimes a couple months of sunlight, and we had enough compost just from all the 200 foot maple trees alone... Good luck with your project ! Fran Danco
I was lucky to be blessed with enough leaves from the trees to last a lifetime.....and I do compost but there is so much, this gives me an idea on how to use them all!
I add my kitchen scraps in the soil. I dig and add them and cover. No odors and the earthworms love them! They transformed my soil from compacted with nothing grown on top to rich black soft soil the last four years. I add the leafs from my trees on top as well as they fall.
I'm in Southern California, zone 9a and watching you is like having an instruction manual for gardening!!! I know that what you just showed me in a video, I'll do about one month later! You have made my life much easier, I'm so very grateful💖
🍂🍁 Great use of leaves! Free mulch and compost plus no leaves left in the grass. You are the hardest working woman.
So inspired by all you do! 👩🌾💜
Amen!!
I fill my flower beds with leaves as well. I find that many ladybugs will hibernate in the leave and bark chip combination.
I lost all my roses to an especially bitter cold Canadian winter so last year I put box-shaped insulated wraps from my beehives on my roses and filled with leaves. I didn't lose any roses and we had another bitterly cold winter.
I did this at my parents' house yesterday. Oak leaves are very resistant to shredding. My Toro leaf blower-mulcher just didn't cut it. Ended up blowing the leaves into giant piles and mowing over them multiple times and then sucking them up with the leaf mulcher. Made a huge difference. Put the leaves mainly around the newer trees and shrubs. Northern IL winters can be nasty, and after such a brutally hot & dry year, this gives me some peace of mind going into winter. I didn't bother with blood meal, so we'll see how it goes. I read that should be used in spring (don't want to encourage growth now) and it's only effective as animal repellant when dry. :-/
"Easy Peesy" as you would chant Laura. The day I decided to wake up and do this we had 20cm of snow here in Windsor Ontario. Oh wellllllll. Shall try again later....If things dry out sufficiently. Love your presentations. You put a smile on my face and I find myself laughing out loud at some of your Free Spirited comments. You Are one special woman Laura.
I do this every year with leaves and pond debri turned into my veggie bed. Had no idea adding blood meal would help. So adding this once the rain stops.
Same question does the wind blow the leaves off the beds and on the ground?
I too wondered about blood meal (literally made from blood from livestock processing) I tried it as a deterrent once before when one of my dogs dug up everything I tried planting- it seemed to have the exact opposite effect and she went after it even more 🤬.
Now I’m like 😬 I dunno if I wanna try it again + its super Stanky 😂 it definitely repelled me.
Would you use blood meal on vegetables beds and flower beds that are mulched?
Margo L. Don’t know if this was for me or Laura, but I place compost in both flower and veggie garden. The blood I’ve added to flowers so I”ll try veggies next year.
@@margol.3169 -Not if the leaves are kept wet so they don' move so easily.. Sometimes if you have some extra dirt from the area, just use that to sprinkle all over the top of the leaves and it will help keep them in place too... And will also help speed up the decomposition process... Don't forget if you can, to add a little Nitrogen to the pile and water it in so it can start working for you...
That leaf blower was so controlled and SO satisfying to watch.
Garden answer in the morning!!
I try for 4 inches of leaves on my beds each fall. I use trellises to keep the leaves in place as we get a lot of wind but putting them down just before a big snow storm works too. Never put blood meal down however my soil improved after the first time and the worms love them. I will be asking neighbours for donations as I am short this year. I would love to see how much compost you could make cause your lot is huge and full of trees.
I clean out the chicken pen and pour on top of the leaves. It won't burn the plants in the Fall but helps to break down the leaves well. My soil is fabulous. I have had no trouble with matting of the leaves, so I don't bother cutting them up.
Good for you! I give you soooo much credit for composting your leaves! I am the ONLY one in my neighborhood who composts them - as soon as one falls my neighbors run out & pick them up for the garbage which is such of waste of an excellent (and free) resource for the yard. The shredded leaves will even rejuvenate bald spots in the lawn and I have found will rejuvenate a sick tree! Thank You for posting this!
we always use grass cuttings on the beds, as we are solid clay it helps break down the stickiness of the clay. Not many leaves in my garden so we do what we can. X x
I use my leaf blower function which actually becomes a vacuum and shreds the leaves. Good to know about adding bone meal...I'll get right on it! Thanks!
Hey Laura, Watch everyday, I just bought a blower that mulches to, we have 3 trees, but we live across from a treed lot, our neighbors never pick up leaves and they blow to our side of the street, your video has really educated me, thanks again.
I like the pot with the agave, really nice! I 💚 composting 🍂🍁🍂🍁!!!👍🏼
Coffee with Laura and great timing as the lawn guys at the college were getting the leaves off the lawns the other day. I will have to email them and see if I can get some of the shredded leaves for our garden beds. Or just make it an activity for the children and they can tear up the leaves lol
REALLY looking forward to the irrigation blow out video Laura! You have inspired so many to put it in our gardens, now we NEED to see how to winter them! Love your vids!!
That blower is a Boss! Man, I gotta get one of those! Love how you use what we’d typically consider waste. So smart!
Thank you. I too took my leaves and added them to the raised beds. I will add the grass in the spring, maybe in April. Last year was my first time here and tried "no dig" gardening. I used moving boxes to cover the 20 year old weeds. This year I will dig only where I put seeds or seedlings, using the layer of leaves and grass to stop the weed growth. I like no dig gardening. Everything came up well, without weeding. I prefer leaves and grass instead of cardboard (chemicals) to stop weed growth.
This is fantastic! So excited to do this with our leaves! I also have to say, Laura, you are a PRO with that leaf blower! You make it look so easy but it definitely takes practice. I bought my husband the Dewalt leaf blower you recommend for his birthday last month. Tried it out this week and...well, it would make a great blooper reel. It's me, not the blower; gotta keep practicing! Ha ha!
I’ve bought Echo blower and Honda mower along with a bunch of other things for my husband...and after a few months they no longer work. I tell it’s HIM and not the products.
Laura this is great!
Love your hair at the start of this clip! Enjoyed the bagger attaching, thanks for not leaving it out! It’s real life!
This comes up as my husbands name but it’s his wife that leaves the comments, lol... I don’t want you to think my husband loves your hair...
I have the feeling it’s not Laura that does the editing. Somehow, I think Aaron has something to do with this. Funny and real!
Love when the fall comes. We have an array of trees behind our property and when the leaves fall we shred them and mulch our garlic and onion beds. Thanks for sharing 😀
Thank you for that information on using a free natural resource in my garden.
Laura, I can't figure out how someone in your age group can be soooo knowledgeable about all things gardening - a combination of parental teaching and self motivated learning skills, I'm guessing. At any rate, you have got it goin' on, girl! Thank you for sharing your knowledge and yourself with all of us!
Bonnie Yaple - Laura's parents own a nursery, so I assume she has worked there for years and gained a lot more knowledge there too... :)
Classic example of working smarter not harder fantastic idea
I love this video; thank you for showing us how to use what we have and not spend money.
Big winds blew thru last night, so it looking like this weekend they'll be dry enough to attempt this. Thanks Laura.
Hello
I love your passion, energy and all your gardening tips
Lots of gum trees where I live and I add some of the leaves in my compost bin, they seem to break down ok
I don’t have any lovely deciduous trees like you have in my garden however
Cheers from Melbourne Australia 🙋♀️❤️
I did this last fall with my oak tree leaves and neighbors leaves for a sandy area I want to start planting up next year.
this is life-serving, fullfilling activity
Well said.
I use my leaf blower/vacuum to chop my leaves and empty the bags on my beds! Works great as a winter mulch and nourishes the soil!
This video rocked my world. I have spent several weeks watching videos and reading articles about composting. I have felt so intimidated about the whole thing especially how to build or buy a composter, which can be very expensive. I don't know why, but I never thought to just use my raised beds as a kind of composter! It is so obvious and so simple the way you did it. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
I have been doing this for years it's great for keeping down the weeds in my extensive flower beds as well as good for them. We have an army of nightcrawlers in our soil they love it. I love our woods mower I can back up to the spot I want the leaves and pull the lever on the hopper and it releases them where I want them.💜 I love that mower and it's an old one now.
SOOO helpful. I have a shredder, bloodmeal, a ton of keaces and cla beds that desperately need this improvement. Thank you!,
Oh Laura I'm so happy you did this video had no idea about the blood meal with leaves ...my soil is so bad in Texas. Gonna give it a try.
Good job Laura! A terrific garden practice that helps the soil and the whole backyard ecosystem. Following advice from the Mt. Cuba Center, a botanical garden and education center that specializes in native plants, I have switched over to using shredded leaves for all my mulching all year round - when you use it consistently throughout your garden, it looks intentional and natural at the same time! And the shredded leaves on the beds through the winter provide habitat for all kinds of good bugs, that in turn provide food for the birds....it's a win, win, win.
I am sooo happy you did a video on using leaves in the landscape. SO many people bag their leaves and throw them out because they dont know any better, such a waste !! It is great to see how we can utilize what free resources we have. Thanks for the great information on compost process. Are you planning on doing a video in the future simply about composting ?
Thank you. This is very helpful. I’ve been reading that it is also beneficial to your lawn to leave a light layer of mulched leaves on it for the winter.
Yes. We put the bulk of the leaves into raised beds and run the mower over the remainder.
You have a beautiful yard! What a blessing❤️❤️❤️
Love the carbon/nitrogen lesson! I have used leaf mulch around all my beds instead of bark for a few years & the soil has improved tremendously! 🍁🍂
For my flower beds, I lay some leaves and then dump the soil from my pots on top. Sort of like lasagna. This helps keeps the leaves from blowing. I also literally put leaves in plastic garbage cans cause I have too many. The blood meal is a great idea. If I don't have any blood meal, could I use grass fertilizer - it's the only high nitrogen amendment I have handy.
Everything works so well! What should city dwellers do?
Wow! So awesome. I love how this technique feeds your soil and reduces waste at the same time! Thanks for the video :)
Do it all the time! It’s my main Fall mulch!
make sure you soak your leaf mulch down so it stays in place. know from experience always use my leaves to mulch all landscape beds to smother grass and weeds.
Okay, I did this right after watching the video!! It's very windy here at my house and I was surprised that it didn't blow away once it was put in the beds. However, I checked on it a few hours later - still there but instead of being that pretty yellow and orange color it turned BROWN - sooo fast!! 🤣 I didn't think of it turning so fast - lol!! Oh-well, it looks like natural mulch. 👍 Thanks Laura!!
It’s great to educate people on
in-home use of leaves, rather than seeing them bagged up and removed. Leaf mold creation adds great benefit to garden beds. Even the grass will benefit from a fine covering of leaves(not too thick)
I have a chopped leaf bin next to my compost unit. Each time I add kitchen waste, I cover it with a generous layer of those leaves.
I also have a compost unit dedicated to making leaf mold. Mulching with chopped leaves is invaluable.
We have been mulching our leaves into our st Augustine grass for years. I may bag some this year and put in the flower and garden beds. Great video. Tfs. 👏🏻👏🏻
Love this! We are in the woods and have so many leaves! It’s hard to keep up with at times...lol. Will have to give this a try! 🍂🍁🍂🍁🍂
Years ago in Science class, the classmates had to gather Autumn leaves to place in the garden plot. I gathered leaves in a wood area away from my parents home. The leaves were in advance brown/black decomposition and were used to enrich the soil.
Thank you for sharing.
GREAT video!!! I often wondered what you do with all your leaves and or all the plants (annuals etc…) you pull out to plant other things you never really talk about composting. I’m excited to see that those leaves are serving their purpose👍 Thanks Laura!
Love your channel🥰
She could mow them up and toss them into a compost pile or simply toss them into the dumpster. They're going to break down no matter where their "final" resting place is.
Hi Laura! So nice that your mower didn't clog ~ good job! It's nice that you can recycle all of your leaves like that. Everything you said made perfect sense, as usual! Thank you for sharing!
Love it! I do the same every year on my Raspberries & other fruit/veggie beds!
I did a light cover of leaves mixed with compost and put cardboard over them to bring the worms up. Will add more compost in the spring and using shredded leaves for mulch. Hoping for good results
Very helpful! I can't wait to get some trees planted in our new yard so I can do that. Blood meal was new to me and I'm definitely going to look into that. Thanks again Laura!
It’s so nice to have a new video in the morning to hopefully inspire me to do something outside today. Just got a few inches of snow yesterday and in Iowa this is unusual for October. Wish me luck!
Spokane is zone 5 and I have 2 Spanish Dagger yuccas that are doing great. In fact I took my inspiration from a local commercial landscape that had a large clump planted in a area that gets the street snow plowed over it. It defrosts every spring and pushes up beautiful flower stalks by early summer
Love this! We live in a warmer climate but do mulch our leaves with our mower also and it works great! Thanks for the blood meal tip😊
I use leaves for insulation in my garden it works very well I like the idea to chop it up for the veggie garden thank you for sharing 💖 God bless you and your family
Black gold! Love using leaves in my beds and compost. When we suck them up with our equipment they are broken down beautifully. 😁
THANKS FOR THIS INFORMATION 👍 I DO THE SAME WITH LEAVES BUT HAVE BEEN BEEN USING ALPHALFA PELLETS FOR THE NITROGEN NEEDED WHICH ARE ORGANIC 👍
That blower was epic. Wow, I need one of those
Just an FYI, I did see someone who was explaining a leaf mulch say that used coffee ground works for added nitrate. I'm really glad because I CERTAINLY have enough of that. lol
K MacC - Oh absolutely, coffee grounds will make the worms go wild about eating the soil up and leaving all their awesome castings behind which further improve the soil ! I have heard of people going to places like Starbucks and getting permission to take all their coffee grounds they throw away, so that is nice too...
AWESOME INFO!!! THANK YOU LAURA.
I have hard riverbed dirt, I can't even call it soil, so I am pleased to learn that all my dry leaves can be used for good!! Thank you so much.
I love flowars
Loooove the sustainability 👏👏👏
Awesome! I compost not only food leftovers, but leaves from my trees as well. Very fun to watch it turn into pure organic compost! Also that Spanish Dagger Yucca is hardy to zone 6, so it could survive in a protected location or in your greenhouse. I have heard of them suriviving temps near -10°F. 🍃🍂
Thanks so much for spreading all your knowledge Laura! I admire you so much!!!! Many blessings to you and your family 🙏
Great video 👍 Very informative! I'm going to follow your example this year. I've been gardening for only a year and was concerned about leaving my beds dormant and w/o nutrients for the winter. Now I know! Thanks 😊
I use my local leaves as well, It must depend on species which whole leaves don’t break down well.. ash, maple, and dogwood break down easily. Great point about the thick leaf mulch. Agapanthus seem to be hardier than on the tag, I had a zone 8 return every year for 3 years. Navy Blue is a hardy cultivar.
Laura always an inspiration.... Eco conscious to the max.... will try blood meal to break it down. Thank You!
when the wind blows so much for looking good! soak it down really good if you want any chance of keeping it in place
Excellent video!
I don’t have enough leaves and will drive around grabbing bags of leaves from neighbors.
I throw them in my chicken yard and they spend the winter mulching them down.
Win, win!
Georgia Cinq-Mars I wish you lived close to me!! I have more than enough to share
What a great idea! Instant fertilizer for spring.
I drive around and bag leaves too. Lol
Wish you were my neighbor
You are a super woman ,full of energy ,creative ,god bless you ,thank you for this amazing videos .😘
I learn something from every one of your videos and you are so much fun to watch!
I do the exact same thing with our fall leaves & grass clippings , but instead of leaving a layer on top, I work them into my garden veggie soil.
It's really better not to work raw leaves into the soil. Let them decompose first or it's a nitrogen suck.
Hi in the UK/Britain we also make leaf mould! It’s much like compost in that you would put it into a compost bay and leave it for a year or in smaller gardens you can bag it up in black plastic bags and poke some holes in with a garden fork. The leaf mould that results in a years time is excellent for improving soil for woodland type plants that you mayPlant in shade it’s also good to mix with saved garden soil to start seeds in. You probably know this it’s just that you didn’t mention it in your video.
Great job you are one of the hardest workers I would have gotten so frustrated with the mower bags.
🍃🍂🍃🌸🍃🍂🍃
We had a super windy night and my garden looks just like yours 😁 I always leave the leaves in my beds too 🍁
My dog went after the bone meal, my guess is he would love the blood meal also. 🤣 I did this yesterday!!! I’m so proud of myself then to see this video today! I’m kickin ass! ❤️❤️👷♀️😚
re-purposing leaves 101 ...love it !!
This is so great. I actually have a leaf shredder that I can put a bag under if needed. I’m afraid to use the blood meal in the backyard. I think my dog would just want to eat it! She does that when I put down Holly Tone too. But maybe if I water it in it might help.
Leaf mould is even better than common compost. Since it's mostly fungi that decomposes them. Also, leaves improve soil texture way more. You can even use it as sowing soil (fully decomposed and sifted).