Don’t Waste Fallen Leaves – Here’s What You Can Do with Them!

So, your garden is packed with leaves? “What a nuisance,” you may think, “now I have to get rid of them.” Wait! What looks like a problem is actually a solution to many others… You will be amazed to find out how many ways you have to use fallen foliage for your green haven – in fact, autumn leaves are a great resource – they can save plants, feed them, protect them and even stop soil erosion! Treat them as friends.

Find out many creative and traditional ways to make your garden a better place with fallen leaves – and you will never look at brown foliage in the same way again!

1. Turn Fallen Foliage into Leaf Mold

Leaf mold is an outstanding fertilizer and potting medium, and the basic ingredient of all JADAM recipes for your plants, to feed them, but also to boost their health, promote germination etc., and yes, it comes from fallen foliage. It is a natural process, which happens in woods and forests, under trees, but you can replicate it in your garden.

Leaf mold is made from decomposed leaves, but unlike compost the breaking down of organic matter is made by fungi, and not bacteria. And if you want to make it for your soil and garden’s health, just follow these instructions.

• Deciduous leaves are best for leaf mold, especially oak, beech and maple, but also many shrubs, because they decompose fast.
• Collect the leaves (as many as you wish).
• Shred them, or chop them into pieces; this will speed up the decomposition.
• Choose a place for your leaf mold pile; it should be well ventilated and in part or full shade (under trees is the ideal spot).
• You can simply pile the leaves, reaching about 3 feet in height (1.0 meter).
• Or… You can place the leaves in a bin, or even a plastic bag.
• Leave the bin or bag open (fungi need air…)
• Water the leaves, so that they are humid, but not soaked.
• Every now and then turn the leaves (optional) and keep them humid with a bit of water.
• Wait for 6 to 12 months, till all the leaves have decomposed to a dark brownish crumbly matter.

It’s ready!

2. Use Fallen Leaves to Mulch Your Flower Beds

Mulching flower beds can be fairly expensive if you use wood bark and you need to buy it. On the other hand, straw and other materials don’t look good in a decorative garden. On the other hand, leaves can add a touch of color and an autumnal feel to your garden, so, why not use them?

You can, of course, but you need to keep a few things in mind.

• Dry up the leaves first.
• Remove all sick, rotting leaves.
• Layer the leaves evenly on your flower beds, if they are all flat they will give you good mulch, if they are mixed up, they will rot away.

Large leaves (like plane, oak, maple etc.), hard ones (like palms, bamboo etc.) and conifer foliage are best. But allow conifer needles to sit for a few weeks before using them, or they can acidify the soil.

3. Cover Pathways with Fallen Leaves

Pathways can get muddy and wet in late fall and winter, and it’s a mess for your shoes and boots. On the other hand, you can lay fallen leaves on them like a carpet… This will make your gardening chores more pleasurable during the cold and rainy season, but it also has other advantages.

This leafy carpet will keep your pathways clean from weeds, and it can prevent soil erosion as well.  What’s more, as the foliage decomposes, it will nourish your soil, not just underneath, but to the sides as well, where your beds are.

4. Scatter a Thin Layer of fallen Leaves on Your Lawn

Your lawn will need some protection over the cold months of winter, but you cannot mulch it, because your grass would die. Instead, scatter fallen leaves thinly and sparsely over your precious green carpet, leaving gaps… The wind will move them and allow all blades to have enough light, and if they are not thick or pressed, they will allow ventilation.

To get even better results, shred the leaves coarsely, especially if they are large.

At the same time, fallen foliage will provide some warmth and protection, and when it dec composes, it will also give your lawn grass some food. Do make sure, however, that the wind doesn’t heap them up in one place, so, every now and then, spread them out if necessary.

5. Use Leaves to Protect Tender Plants

Are you worried about your tender varieties over winter? You can protect them with fallen foliage then! Just heap the leaves at the base of the plant, or, if you have cut them back, cover them with a loose mound. This will give them some warmth. However…

Make sure that the leaves do not compact, to allow ventilation, and leave any shoots that are already growing free, you don’t want to choke them, and they will still get some extra warmth by being close to the foliage.

Finally, you will have to remove the leafy mound in late winter to spring (depending on your climate). Do it by degrees, so your tender perennials or shrubs don’t get a shock.

6. Use Leaves for Lasagna Gardening (Sheet Mulching)

Never leave your soil barren, especially during harsh seasons like winter or summer! So, if you have a patch of land where nothing is growing, and you don’t want weeds to give you a headache, use what we call “lasagna gardening”.

I think it gives you an idea of what we mean: lay layers of fallen leaves alternating them with other organic matter, like straw, paper, cardboard etc. This will keep your soil protected from the weather, but it will also feed it as it breaks down into nutrients for your plants.

And by the way, it’s a good way to get mushrooms growing in your garden!

7. Use Fallen Leaves to Prevent Soil Erosion

Leaves form a blanket on top of the soil, so, while they don’t actively hold it in place, like roots do, they can prevent soil erosion. This is because they protect it from rain and wind, as well as from strong sunlight and heat. So, you can use them all year round.

Be very generous with your fallen leaves if you wish to prevent soil erosion, especially on slopes, and you can keep them in place with some chicken wire or similar if your problem is really serious.

However, this is a temporary solution,the best one is always to grow plants with strong, intricate and long roots to stop soil erosion.

8. Make Compost with Fallen Leaves

I am sure you thought about this already; fallen leaves are great to make compost. In fact, dead foliage makes up most of your heap. So, maybe it’s time to start one, if you haven’t already!

When fall comes, however, you should make sure that your compost heap is sheltered from rains, or you will end up with a mucky mound, while most of the nutrients will be washed away…

Also remember that there is a difference between fresh and dead leaves.

• Fresh, green leaves (like when you uproot plants or vegetables) are nitrogen rich.
• Brown leaves (fallen from trees and shrubs) are rich in carbon.

The good news is that you will need lots of carbon in your compost heap, 25 to 30 times as much as nitrogen, in fact, so, fallen foliage is gold for gardeners!

9. Use Fallen Leaves to Build Wildlife Shelters in Your Garden

When days get colder, wildlife also needs some help keeping warm, from hedgehogs to beneficial insects. So, you could take advantage of the abundance of fallen leaves to make little shelters for them.

Just find a sheltered spot in your garden and make a heap (or more) with all the surplus fallen leaves you have; it’s like a 5 star hotel for little creatures, and they will be ready to help you gardening when spring comes!

Finally…

Be Careful with These Special Fallen Leaves!

But I would like to finish with some final tips. To start with, discard sick, rotting leaves for any use apart from composting and leaf mold. Next, do not use foliage in your potting mix, it breaks down and the bacteria that do this use up lots of nitrogen. And then, just remember that shredded foliage decomposes faster.

But there is more; you saw that not all leaves are good for all purposes, so, be careful with these:

Magnolia leaves are really tough and hard to break down, so they are great and decorative as mulch, but not good for composting or leaf mold.

Conifer needles are acidic, and they break down slowly. So, they are not ideal for compost heaps, and leaf mold, and if you want to use them for mulching, let them rest first, they will become almost neutral soon, losing their acidity – unless you want to lower your soil pH (for camellias, azaleas etc…)

Eucalyptus, walnut and oleander leaves have chemical compounds that block all other plants from growing, so, remove them and dispose of them (unless you want an area with no plants, like a path etc…)

Now, look at all the leaves in your garden and consider yourself lucky – they are not your enemies; they are your best friends!