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Put Those Gorgeous Fall Leaves to Work In Your Garden!

By Manuela Williams

I enjoy seeing the beautiful color of the leaves (fall is my very favorite season), but more than that, falling leaves mean free mulch for me! Here’s how I use leaves as mulch in my garden.

How to use leaves as mulch in the garden

The afternoons have been pretty gorgeous even though we’ve had our first freeze warnings this week.

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links to Amazon and/or Etsy, which means that I may earn a small commission from some of the links in this post. Please see our Disclosure Page for more information.

oak trees in fall

So I’ve been enjoying being outside tidying up my garden a bit. Which means trimming trees and roses and the start of chopping up the leaves with my lawnmower. I’ll be doing this for at least a few more weeks.

How to use leaves as mulch in the garden

I use the chopped  leaves to mulch  some of my flower beds and the raised beds in my vegetable garden that I’m not using. This limits weed germination. Normally I’d have more beds to cover with leaf mulch, but this year I’m using all my beds but 2. You can work any leaves that haven’t decomposed into the soil in spring and use them as an organic  soil amendment. They don’t have many nutrients so I don’t use them as a fertilizer.

How to use leaves as mulch in the garden - leaf mulch in raised bed

I don’t use leaves  under plants that do better with pine straw which is acidic & makes the soil acidic when it decomposes.

blueberries mulched with pinestraw

Last Summer’s Blueberries Mulched With Pinestraw

So acid-loving plants like my blueberry bushes (you can see the pine straw underneath the leaves), hydrangeas,  azaleas, and gardenias get pine straw. Fortunately pine straw is cheap in the South and you get good coverage for a bale. So it’s very economical.

river birch

I have mostly Maple, Pecan, Poplar, Crepe Myrtle, Bradford Pear & River Birch leaves to mulch.  Normally I have a mix of leaves to use as mulch since I have different trees all over. Oak is fine but takes a little longer to break down (as do Pecan). My neighbor shreds her Walnut leaves and says they are safe to compost or use as mulch. Just do a quick Google search if you are uncertain about whether or not your leaves are safe to use as mulch or compost. I think Eucalyptus can be composted but not shredded and used  as mulch for example.

Besides mulching my empty raised beds I had to water the veggies I have growing. Although, I have a separate post coming on my fall/winter garden,  I have to show you my peppers now!

bell peppers growing under row covers

I’m experimenting with some summer vegetables to see how long I can keep them producing under the row covers we installed.

green peppers under row covers

I’m so excited that I’m still picking bell peppers in November!! Anyway, I do have a post on my winter vegetable garden coming up but I had to share these with you!

So back to leaves 🙂 …. don’t just bag them (unless you’re keeping them to use in your spring/summer compost), use them now as mulch!

 

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Filed Under: In the garden Tagged With: garden tips, vegetable garden

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Comments

  1. Kathleen Grace says

    November 9, 2012 at 4:15 pm

    I love using leaves for mulch, and when I had chickens I threw large bags of leaves into their outdoor run for them to pick through. The leaves worked wonders on deodorizing the run:>)

    • Manuela says

      November 9, 2012 at 5:22 pm

      When did you get rid of your chickens?!!

  2. Penny @ The Comforts of Home & Flea Market Makeovers says

    November 9, 2012 at 4:26 pm

    Great tips Manuela!

  3. Glenda says

    November 9, 2012 at 4:48 pm

    Your yard is so pretty with all its Fall color. Thanks for sharing the mulch and compost tips.
    My courtyard is full of hickory nut and oak tree leaves, but won’t be doing anything about them any time soon. I either reacted to a flu shot or another bug got me. 🙁
    Enjoy your weekend.

    • Manuela says

      November 9, 2012 at 5:21 pm

      I stopped getting the flu shot about 6 years ago. I had a horrible reaction to the last one I got and was sick for a week!

      Feel better soon!

  4. merle turner says

    November 9, 2012 at 5:00 pm

    All my trees are evergreen but the two huge berry trees in the middle of my back yard, they lose leaves all the time but are completely bare in winter,now it summer here so the shade they provide is very handy.
    Merle…….

  5. Melanie says

    November 9, 2012 at 7:03 pm

    I wish I lived in a warmer area…leaves just now changing colors and falling and veggies still producing? Nice! Our trees here in northern IL are completely bare now. My hubby mows fallen leaves to use as mulch, too.

  6. [email protected] says

    November 10, 2012 at 5:35 pm

    Our trees are pretty much bare now, especially after the last of Sandy blew through for two days (we had the winds longer here than Stephanie did in New England!). I was in town today and noticed some trees still pretty, these were obviously more protected by buildings than the forest around us.

    Hubby has been running the mulching mower over our property a little at a time. It mulches the leaves back into the ground. Today he put other leaves on our raised beds and into compost piles.

    Living at the edge of a forest, we have plenty to go around. 😉

    • [email protected] Cultivated Nest says

      November 10, 2012 at 9:33 pm

      I’m sure you do have plenty of leaves!

      I still have trees with green leaves so I have at least through the middle of December before all my trees are bare.

      I often mow over the first bunch of leaves that fall and leave them the grass.

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A Cultivated Nest makes no claims of “expert status” and the owner will not be liable for any losses, injuries, or damages from the use of the information found on this website. Posts may contain affiliate links. A Cultivated Nest is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. A Cultivated Nest is also a participant in the Etsy affiliate program via Awin. This means that I may earn a small commission from some of the links in my posts. Please see our Disclosure Page for more information.

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