Mulching Leaves from an Old Maple

By Bruce (Guest Post) 11/25/2007

I just bought a house with trees all around - mostly Oak, Cedar, and Poplar. The yard has an erosion problem and I'm trying to build up the topsoil. Composting sounds logical and I'm mulching my leaves first, then vacuuming (and mulching again) and piling it up out back. Will add dirt, lime, and water. Does anyone know if the chemical composition of all these leaves creates a problem for the yard? Too much of anything? I have a pile of finely mulched leaves that is 5 feet high and 9 feet wide!

Bruce

By Marcia (Guest Post) 10/25/2007

Hi Betty,
Years ago where we used to live, we had a Maple tree in our yard. Instead of breaking them down into little pieces, I made a compost pile and put grass clippings, soil and the leaves. I turned it every so often. I had excellent soil for my tomatoes. I also added wood ash also from my fireplace.
hugs,
Marcia

By

jess

10/11/2007

RE: Mulching Leaves from the Old Maple

Holy Moley! That's a whole lot of leaves! Even I could have fun rolling in those for hours! Brings back some childhood memories :) Great tip! for us gardeners.

Jennifer CA (11/09/2006)

By jjager

RE: Mulching Leaves from the Old Maple

Betty, thanks for the great tip on putting the leaves in a bag with a little dirt and water. I will try that. By the way, I notices that the leaves your husband has raked into a pile come up to about his waist? So, I'm thinking that if all of them were raked into a huge pile, the pile would be taller than him and he looks like a tall fellow. Betty, you have a lot of leaves. On another note, I bet the tree is beautiful when it is turning. (11/10/2006)

By Jean in GA

RE: Mulching Leaves from the Old Maple

Do you close the bags or leave them open a bit? I'm new to composting and enjoy learning.

Great picture! (11/10/2006)

By mikki

RE: Mulching Leaves from the Old Maple

Thanks for the mowing tip!!! We just moved into a house that has a few big maples along some Cottonwood, lilac bushes, burning bushes and an apple tree. We have tons of leafs in the yard and cant seem to keep up. This is going to put a big dent in our yard work! ~Wendola~ (11/10/2006)

By ~Wendola~

RE: Mulching Leaves from the Old Maple

What lovely colors to compost! I prefer to just hunt for folks bagging their "tiny" leafed tree leaves for curbside, an invitation for picking up to go into my compost, leaving them in an open black bag to collect rainwater, tossing in dirt and then adding them by the handsful into my compost as I layer it nearby. Since we garden year 'round in TX, the thicker leaves just take too long to decompose into anything useable, so when my car is repaired, I'll be keeping my eye open for everything "tiny" and already bagged as I drive. : ) (11/11/2006)

By Lynda

RE: Mulching Leaves from the Old Maple

Enjoyed reading your feedback, thanks. I usually close the bags loosely, as long as they have some water so it stays moist, they will rot down. I could just see jjager playing in those leaves! LOL!! The tree is very beautiful when in fall color, & yes, there are a lot of leaves!! A note to Wendola, your lilac and burning bush leaves don't really need to be picked up as they are quite small & just seem to rot quickly. Isn't the Burning Bush a lovely color in the fall! I found out that it doesn't like fresh horse manure, mine died!! Too much of a good thing! LOL! (11/13/2006)

By Betty

RE: Mulching Leaves from the Old Maple

Hi Betty!

I know the leaves don't really need to be picked up but there are so many trees in the yard that I say what the heck clean those out too! I love the burning bushes but they placed them in an area you really can't view from a window.

This yard was not taken care of very well by the previous owners. They allowed the grass to die off by leaving all those leaves for who knows how long.

There are plans to redo the driveway and remove a few trees in the spring. Lots of grass seed is going to need to be laid down too. I have my work cut out for me, but hope to have it looking nice by mid summer at the latest.

~Wendola~ (11/14/2006)

By ~Wendola~

RE: Mulching Leaves from the Old Maple

Like the idea of putting leaves sinto plastic bags with water and some dirt (how much dirt ?) Never did see any sense in raking them up in fall then replace with some thing else in spring to do same thing the FREE leaves would have done,good fertilizer too. We usually spread them out on yard and in spring they have disappeared into ground. (11/16/2006)

By afrugallady