This is what I do too. Blow the leaves into bed areas and collect leaves from people who bag them. Use those bags to chop up for munching my raised bed gardens and for compost piles. My insect life has flourished since doing this. I had so many great spangled fritillaries this year, also helped that I left the native violets alone, instead of treating them like unwanted weeds, which for years I viewed them as. 😊
We, too, have an overabundance. We live in a very small clearing in the woods. My husband moves the leaves off our gravel lane and driveway so the rocks don't get covered in leaf mold/ mulch for all the tree seeds to sprout. He also moves them into my 21 beds and borders and into the yard/tree line edge. I wish I could make leaf mold/mulch, but 40% of our trees are Black Walnut. And although most natives "tolerate" juglone, they do not thrive in it.
I love birds so I don’t move any leaves until Mother’s Day to enable the Lepidoptera to survive. My grass came back when I mowed the leaves in May. I have a wood lot of white oaks and hickories . I love Dr. Tallamy’s books on natives, oaks and wildlife. This is really great!
Hey Michelle, how did I miss this video? I also have property like yours, all mature trees. When I moved here 10 years ago, my first fall I was overwhelmed with leaves. I bought a huge backpack blower and had the mower out every day. Not knowing how un environmentally stupid I was. ( hey that’s what the neighbors do). Thank goodness I learned native plants early on and learned from great gardeners like you. I have shrunk my grass to virtually nothing. The leaves fall and stay. My little battery leaf blower is used on driveway only. In late spring I run my gas push mower to make paths in the leaves. My neighbors have perfect lawns and spend countless hours try to rid their perfect lawns of leaves. I laugh at them as they drive my crazy with the leaf blowers all hours of the day. Best part is, two of my neighbors have incorporated my leave the leaves as I have.
Congrats on having some of your neighbors follow along with you!!! I wish that would happen here. The leaf blowers are out of control on my street. Literally I cannot film outside a lot because of the blowers. I will get all ready to go out and do a video and the leaf blowers are going crazy. And, it is not even like one leaf blower! Some of the companies will have over 5 going on one property! Argh....
Great stuff. I've been using the leaves for years, but haven't invested in a shredder yet. Another thing I do in some of my beds that are on slopes is to throw down a few fallen limbs on top of the leaves so they don't blow away or slide down with the rain. The limbs kind of work to tie everything together and hold the leaves in place. One thing you can do to help get away from using plastic trash bags on your shredder is to reach out to your local seamstress. They can make wonderful light bags from thin cotton and they work wonderfully to hold the leaves. Obviously, you can't leave the bags out in the weather like a plastic trash bag, but if you're spreading the mulch as you go.... they work wonderfully and help keep the seamstresses employed. I always try to look for ways to support small businesses since we can't ask people to operate the businesses if we aren't going to buy from them.
@@ninetypercentnative Bernadette's got some good notions on sewing.ua-cam.com/video/2JX8zCtMa0U/v-deo.html The hard part will be picking the right fabric and pattern for the season. You don't want something that'll clash with the bold colors of your shredder, after all. What would the neighbors think! 😳
I planted baby Burr Oaks a couple of years ago. It will be a while, but looking forward to all the leaves! Have many old Maple trees but they are not native and not sure how many native bugs use them.
How do you handle leaves and ground covers like our native Sedum? I planted a ton of it last year, so I have no experience in knowing if the plants will survive having thick leaf cover for the winter.
I plant ground covers that may be a little sensitive to the leaves in areas I know I will move the leaves. Like the native sedum is in the corner next to the walkway in front of my porch and I gently blow leaves off the green and gold. I do nothing about the native pachysandra and the get totally covered. I also have partridge berry everywhere in the area where the leaves fall but as the season progresses and leaves decompose I see them around. Lots of it growing under the leaves (bit not necessarily where I move the leave to, that's pretty thick).
If you have any tips on managing leaves that take a light hand in regards to wildlife, please comment below!
This is what I do too. Blow the leaves into bed areas and collect leaves from people who bag them. Use those bags to chop up for munching my raised bed gardens and for compost piles. My insect life has flourished since doing this. I had so many great spangled fritillaries this year, also helped that I left the native violets alone, instead of treating them like unwanted weeds, which for years I viewed them as. 😊
It's so worth it to see all the wildlife!
We, too, have an overabundance. We live in a very small clearing in the woods.
My husband moves the leaves off our gravel lane and driveway so the rocks don't get covered in leaf mold/ mulch for all the tree seeds to sprout. He also moves them into my 21 beds and borders and into the yard/tree line edge.
I wish I could make leaf mold/mulch, but 40% of our trees are Black Walnut. And although most natives "tolerate" juglone, they do not thrive in it.
Thank you for showing how you create a more formal look and still be wildlife friendly!❤❤
You are welcome!
I love birds so I don’t move any leaves until Mother’s Day to enable the Lepidoptera to survive. My grass came back when I mowed the leaves in May. I have a wood lot of white oaks and hickories . I love Dr. Tallamy’s books on natives, oaks and wildlife. This is really great!
Hey Michelle, how did I miss this video? I also have property like yours, all mature trees. When I moved here 10 years ago, my first fall I was overwhelmed with leaves. I bought a huge backpack blower and had the mower out every day. Not knowing how un environmentally stupid I was. ( hey that’s what the neighbors do). Thank goodness I learned native plants early on and learned from great gardeners like you. I have shrunk my grass to virtually nothing. The leaves fall and stay. My little battery leaf blower is used on driveway only. In late spring I run my gas push mower to make paths in the leaves. My neighbors have perfect lawns and spend countless hours try to rid their perfect lawns of leaves. I laugh at them as they drive my crazy with the leaf blowers all hours of the day. Best part is, two of my neighbors have incorporated my leave the leaves as I have.
Congrats on having some of your neighbors follow along with you!!! I wish that would happen here. The leaf blowers are out of control on my street. Literally I cannot film outside a lot because of the blowers. I will get all ready to go out and do a video and the leaf blowers are going crazy. And, it is not even like one leaf blower! Some of the companies will have over 5 going on one property! Argh....
Great to see what happens over the years when you keep the leaves on your property . Thanks for sharing this.
Thank you!!!
Love your videos! This is the best thing to do with the leaves, I hope all your new garden areas are ready to plant in the spring!
Ahhhh! Thank you so much!!!
Those leaf grabbers are a good idea. Better than trying to pick up leaves with the rake.
Yes they are!
Great stuff. I've been using the leaves for years, but haven't invested in a shredder yet. Another thing I do in some of my beds that are on slopes is to throw down a few fallen limbs on top of the leaves so they don't blow away or slide down with the rain. The limbs kind of work to tie everything together and hold the leaves in place. One thing you can do to help get away from using plastic trash bags on your shredder is to reach out to your local seamstress. They can make wonderful light bags from thin cotton and they work wonderfully to hold the leaves. Obviously, you can't leave the bags out in the weather like a plastic trash bag, but if you're spreading the mulch as you go.... they work wonderfully and help keep the seamstresses employed. I always try to look for ways to support small businesses since we can't ask people to operate the businesses if we aren't going to buy from them.
Morning! That is an EXCELLENT idea! Thank you for sharing. I'm gonna do this with my old sheets. 😊👍🏻
@@ninetypercentnative Bernadette's got some good notions on sewing.ua-cam.com/video/2JX8zCtMa0U/v-deo.html
The hard part will be picking the right fabric and pattern for the season. You don't want something that'll clash with the bold colors of your shredder, after all. What would the neighbors think! 😳
I planted baby Burr Oaks a couple of years ago. It will be a while, but looking forward to all the leaves! Have many old Maple trees but they are not native and not sure how many native bugs use them.
I am sure they are using them for habitat over the winter!
If one wants an abundance of fireflies/lightning bugs, one HAS to leave the leaves on your property or flowerbeds!
Thank you, Heidi! I wish I would have remembered to mention that!
Oh yes. I was so excited seeing fireflies this past summer after not seeing them the past few years and I attribute it to leaving the leaves .
How do you handle leaves and ground covers like our native Sedum? I planted a ton of it last year, so I have no experience in knowing if the plants will survive having thick leaf cover for the winter.
I plant ground covers that may be a little sensitive to the leaves in areas I know I will move the leaves. Like the native sedum is in the corner next to the walkway in front of my porch and I gently blow leaves off the green and gold. I do nothing about the native pachysandra and the get totally covered. I also have partridge berry everywhere in the area where the leaves fall but as the season progresses and leaves decompose I see them around. Lots of it growing under the leaves (bit not necessarily where I move the leave to, that's pretty thick).