Mulching for Low Maintenance Gardening

Mulching With Shredded Leaves  By Beth Reis

I love gardening! I also love walking, swimming, biking and reading a good book during the summer. For some reason though, I can't seem to find the time to do necessary chores like laundry and cleaning! Could it be due to all the time I spend outdoors and in my gardens?!

I Love Gardening!

When I was biking this morning (know, I did seem to find the time to do that!) I started thinking about some of the ways I have learned to be a low maintenance gardener. Or at least lower maintenance one. That may sound like an oxymoron, but when you have a large vegetable garden, thirteen flower beds and well over fifty flower pots, it's a good idea to find ways to reduce your garden maintenance!

                                                                 

 

"If you have trees, you have leaves!"

For me, it starts with mulching. Since being frugal is another factor, I decided to use a natural resource around me: leaves. After much research, we purchased a chipper/shredder to cut down on the cost of purchasing mulch yearly and it has paid for itself in the first two years of use!

 Happy Shredded Leaf Mulched Lobelia

 Each fall we gather the fallen leaves on our property, which we have plenty of, and shred them into one very large pile with our chipper/shredder. Shredding will reduce the leaves by one-sixth so that over the winter months they can decompose faster. I then cover the new shredded leaf pile with a tarp and wait for spring!

Shredded Leaf Pile

 In the spring, I clean out my gardens of any unwanted debris like weeds and more leaves that have fallen after fall clean-up. I then apply a thick five inch layer of my shredded/decomposing leaf mulch to all of my flower gardens before the trees start to leaf out and drop their seeds. It reduces further weeding greatly, helps retain moisture, adds nutrients to the soil as it further decomposes, and in my opinion, looks very natural and attractive. I occasionally add more leaf mulch as it decomposes and as spring turns into summer.

For my vegetable garden, I add an additional step. My vegetable garden is divided into six patches by paths. Here I begin mulching by laying down shredded paper.  If you own a shredder or your town/city  offers that service, you may be able to acquire shredded paper. Avoid colored or glossy paper because it may contain toxic heavy metals. Plain or newspaper is preferable.  Any business that shreds may be another source for shredded paper. It will just be recycled anyways. I apply enough paper so I can't see the soil and then after stamping it down a bit, I apply a few inches of my shredded leaves on top of that.  Enough so that the paper is hidden. I then stamp that down too.

        Almost Done!

                                                                      I want to reserve most of my shredded leaves for the areas my plants are growing so that the nutrients will go directly into that soil as they decompose. I add leaves on top of the shredded paper because it tends to blow away easily, is just too bright to look at, and looks more natural. This process also works well for flower garden paths.

Jack in the Bean Stalk Beans

Around my vegetables I do the same shredded leaf application as I do for my flower beds. Newspaper/shredded paper can go down first if desired. Since I have so many leaves I just stick to my shredded leaves. If I see that the mulch is decomposing so much that the soil is exposed, I just replenish it throughout the growing season.

So, if you are looking for a low maintenance and less costly way to mulch any of your gardens, which will also enrich your soil, cut down on weeding and help retain water for your plants, you might want to look into shredding some leaves, shredding some paper or maybe even doing both!

Freshly Mulched With Shredded Leaf Mulch

My Happy Harvest