paghat wrote:
In article .com,
"Ima Googler" wrote:
Another question from the group newbie... 
Last year I purchased a shredder/vac/blower and shredded up all of
our leaves and put a nice thick layer on my flower beds. I've got
probably 4 inches or so on top of my main garden and I'm wondering
if thats too much. The garden includes mainly hosta, heuchera
and a few other shade perennials. I moved some of the mulched
leaves out of the way today and it seemed pretty damp underneath,
we've had lots of rain lately. Will this be a problem, is it
too think or should I just leave the mulch as is? I'm hoping it
will be ok and it can serve as a weed barrier.
Thanks in advance for your help!
As a general rule leaflitter is the most natural autumn & winter
mulch, & encourages the microorganisms that manufacture nitrogen. A
healthy garden will also love the fallen leaves that keep down
winter-germinating seeds, then turns into lovely leafmold by or
during spring. Woodland gardens which are permitted to recycle
their leaves back into their own soil need very little fertilizing
to remain happy as all get-out.
On the other hand, an unhealthy or inorganic garden will
linevitably/eventually have harmful insect population explosions
because harmful insects adapt & bounce back more rapidly than do
beneficial insects. In such cases leaflitter can harbor an excess
of harmful insects. Or even in a healthy garden, if a droughty
winter means the leaves never did break down into leafmold, spring
rain or artificial irrigation wetting so many whole leaves in
warming weather will make it ideal slug & snail & woodlouse
territory.
So there are some cases when the leaves really do have to be taken
away & composted or put in black bags & stored until they break
down into leafmold. In most cases though the leaves are gotten off
lawns & into the gardens during autumn leaf-fall, & nature does the
rest.
Four inches of mulch, however, certainly is apt to be too much,
& it might be nice to aportion all that mulch more thinly about
the gardens. As for keeping the ground moist underneath the mulch,
that's generally a good thing, it won't keep it TOO moist unless
the soil is badly draining clay; it just allows for water
conservation. An inch or two would be a lot of mulch but not too
much unless you were hoping to germinate seeds in which case soil
would have to be churned to the surface mixing the mulch in.
-paghat the ratgirl
What about clearing the leaves from the crowns of perennials?
--
Travis in Shoreline (just North of Seattle) Washington
USDA Zone 8b
Sunset Zone 5