REGION – Forestland accounts for 4.5 million acres of Vermont’s 5.9 million total acres. That is about 77% of The Green Mountain State covered by trees, many of them dropping their beautiful and plentiful leaves right now. This is great news, as “leaf litter” is fully supportive of your lawn, your garden, your compost, erosion control efforts, filtering runoff, and some of Vermont’s smallest creatures. Here is a routine you can follow.
Collect and mulch leaves, spreading 2-5 inches of mulched leaves in garden beds and around plants to improve soil structure and boost fertility; leaf mulch helps retain moisture, moderate soil temperature, suppress weeds, and add nutrients. Give stems an inch or two of space to avoid pests and rot. You can fold leaf mulch right into garden soil, encouraging earthworms and other beneficial organisms to aerate the soil; improving structure, drainage, and ability to hold nutrients; and preventing soil from becoming anaerobic. Leaves are a rich brown matter (carbon) for composting. A healthy balance of brown and green matter is essential to creating a nutrient-rich compost.
When you’re done raking, but the leaves keep falling, is when you shift gears. Mulch directly into your lawn to lift your turf’s health with a mulching or traditional mower, easily scattering the crushed leaves as you go. Leaving the leaves helps control erosion by forming a protective layer, retaining moisture, and preventing loose soil from being washed or blown away. Both shorelands and forested areas benefit from buffer zones for filtering runoff, stabilizing slopes, and providing winter shelter for beneficial insects, amphibians, and other little creatures of the leaf litter layer.
There is so much you can do with this free resource all around your property. Say goodbye to bags and bags of leaves.
Submitted by the Ludlow Tree Advisory Board.