CAN FALL LITTER IN THE GARDEN BE HARMFUL?

The typically autumnal atmosphere cannot be conceived without the leaves of the deciduous trees fluttering from the crown until finally falling to the ground. The arboreal masses change the colors of their crowns. Preparation for the vegetative winter stop is imminent.

The bucolic images of the litter that we all have in our heads can cause certain problems if it is our private garden.

The autumn leaves are one of the most spectacular pictures this season has. Some time ago we talked about the winged Bonnet. We will tell you about it before autumn so we won’t forget it, but it is a tree that has its best moment now.

If you want to know more about this tree, take a walk around the entrance to the Winged Bonnet and its autumnal color . Deciduous trees that lose their leaves during these months do so to prepare for winter dormancy. Trees reabsorb chlorophyll and leaves lose their green.

SHOULD I LEAVE THE LITTER IN THE GARDEN TO COMPOST?

It’s a great question that has two possible answers. Yes and no. How can it be?

• Yes, because the litter is a very good potential humus, it will end up decomposing, humidifying and enriching the garden soil in organic matter.
• No, because wet litter can cause rotting in the garden.

THEN WHAT DO WE DO?

Let’s go by parts. Indeed, the litter is plant matter that in one way or another, will become part of the soil again, where it will decompose to constitute an exceptional contribution of nutrients to the soil for the development of the plants and trees that grow in it. This is undoubted.

Starting from this premise, it is clear that leaving the litter in the garden is something that we would not hesitate to do. The downside is that the garden is not a “natural” environment. No one doubts that your garden is not natural but the species that coexist may be incompatible at some point in the cycle . I explain:

If we observe a deciduous forest such as a beech or oak, we walk through it and look at the ground … do we have a dense green mantle of grass like the one in our garden? Indeed, it is not the case. In these soils where dry leaves cover the ground, you will not find grass under this layer of leaves. An excess of dry leaves on the ground is beneficial for all that we have said, but not if we have grass or other plants that develop at this time it can be a problem.

Autumn is a month of intense rains and the dry fallen leaves get wet and begin to decompose and this can affect our garden grass if the volume of leaves is considerable. We don’t let the grass breathe, we deprive it of light and it turns brown until we run out of it. Something similar happens with tender shoots of garden plants whose flowering occurs in winter and therefore their shoots are coming out at this time of year. So what should we do?

COLLECT LEAVES FROM THE GARDEN … AND COMPOST THEM!

When we talk about compost we almost always link it to the garden. Compost and vegetable garden go hand in hand but this does not have to be the only end of the compost.

The garden plants also appreciate it so you do not have or have garden, if you have a garden, composting is an essential task that will bring many benefits. We have already counted the advantages in the garden but in the garden it also has a couple of them more:

• If you compost, you no longer have to worry about where to dump the big, heavy plastic bags full of dry leaves from every fall.
• The pruning debris of your trees, shrubs and garden hedges can also be composted. Although the wood composting process is slower, it will also be more balanced in the long run.

In the most common composting processes, more elements are usually added but if for whatever reason you do not compost anything, know that a compost pile of the leaves and pruning of your garden is possible and in the end we obtain a high quality mulch to add it to garden plants.

Collect the leaves from the garden with a claw or a blower and make a pile. Cover it with a mesh or with some soil so that they do not blow away. If you already have a composter or compost pile, just go adding them with the other items that you usually compost.

CONCLUTION…

The dried leaves constitute a very rich plant material that we should not get rid of by throwing it away.

You do not have to throw it away but if you have grass or garden plants, it is convenient to remove them with a garden claw, pile them up , and let them decompose.