Home |
Search |
Today's Posts |
#18
|
|||
|
|||
"Joe" wrote in message news:HtPfd.42899$Pl.30974@pd7tw1no... "simy1" wrote in message om... Mark Herbert wrote in message ... In article , I do the same. The earthworms love the stuff, and will aerate the soil beneath wherever you deposit it. I use an electric mower to mulch quite a load of leaves, but if they are dry and I take my time, I can completely powder them in a reasonable time. I always sharpen the blade halfway through the job. yes. for the lawn, it is certainly a good idea to pulverize them, though I find that even coarsely chopped they disappear by May. for the garden, it is best not to chop them, so that they can suppress weeds well into august the next year. and in fact it is best not to put them on the garden during winter, but rather as far away as possible, because they will attract rodents. it is still a good deal work wise: to move half a ton of leaves twice (once now, once in May) takes two or three hours. to weed the beds twice during the season can take days of work. I rake my leaves, not much, and the neighbors, big pile, on my beds after they freeze up, which is very soon. Waiting like this gives less habitat to the mice and more constant conditions to the bulbs. By June the leaves have vanished. For my lawn I rake in black compost right after the thaw. My lawn is nice and green all year this way. (I stopped using chemical lawn amendments three years ago.) In fact there is a sharp green line between me and the neighbor! Isn't that fun? I had the same situation with the lawn at my prior house, except I never had enough compost to share between vegetables & grass. But, I didn't bag the grass, and I mowed it as high as the mower could go. My neighbor, on the other hand, was a ChemLawn addict, and mowed his lawn like it was a putting green. Mine looked gorgeous, and his looked like it was close to death, except for 2 weeks in the Spring. He was constantly coming over and asking me what secret stuff I was using. He refused to believe that the answer was "nothing". This went on for 10 years. The dummy never learned. |
Thread Tools | Search this Thread |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Forum | |||
Riding Mower, Mulching Blade and Leaves Question | Lawns | |||
Mulching Leaves Safe for Soil pH? | Gardening | |||
Mulching Leaves Safe for Soil pH? | Lawns | |||
How to Make a Lawn Mower into Mulching Mower? | Gardening | |||
gum leaves mulching and fast break down | Australia |