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long Island

Pretty soon I am going to have a ton of maple leaves.
Are they good to spread over the patch for the winter.
I plan to leave my little 2 foot wire fence around the patch and just fill it up with the maple leaves. Maybe in the spring some of them will have broken down into maple compost. Is that a good idea or should I just get the yard of real compost that I was planing to have delivered from a local nursery, and forget the leaf idea.

10/1/2010 8:57:06 PM

Brooklyn Corner, Nova Scotia

Maple leaves are just fine, don't over do it, they won't all break down by Spring. I would shred them if possible. The leaves will add organic matter but you may need to add compost as well. Get a soil test to see exactly what you need and don't need. A smart guy from Richmond said "without a soil test you're shooting blind", good luck.

10/1/2010 9:24:52 PM

South Hero, VT

Wally,

Unshredded leaves take a LONG time to decompose.

I would chop them up first(leaf shredder, lawnmower, etc) and then add them to the compost.

They are very high in carbon, and a little bit goes a long way.

I would also do my soil test first so I didn't add too much carbon.

10/1/2010 9:33:35 PM

South Hero, VT

Andy, you beat me to the punch. lol

10/1/2010 9:34:32 PM

British Columbia

I put all the maple leaves I can get into my garden. For mulching winter crops like broad beans or garlic I collect the maple leave, drop them onto a section of lawn that needs cutting and then use the mower to shred them to make a grass/leave mulch. I then put this n the beds up to 6 inches thick if I have enough to protect for winter. I find it breaks down well enough by late spring and any leaf fragments that are still around in spring get turned in to the soil and work as an organic binder to create body. I have done this successfully for several years and my soil gets better every year. I started with almost pure sand so the humus was really needed.

10/1/2010 9:34:46 PM