Thing to do Around the Yard in the Fall - Part 1

Some time ago I posted in my blog on lawn care and Sue asked if I would do one on what I do in the fall to prepare the yard for winter so here is the first installment!

It is Not Fall Without Falling Leaves!

If you have trees in your yard, it is time for your annual fall ritual of leaf removal. The key to leaf management is to avoid procrastination. Instead of waiting for all of the leaves to fall, schedule two or three raking (or leaf blowing) sessions during the season. Don’t allow wet leaves to layer on your lawn because they will cut off oxygen and sunlight and eventually will kill the grass. Here are some leaf management tips:

Raking is the tried and true standby for managing leaves. Use a fan rake - wooden, plastic or light metal - and rake lightly over the grass, pulling leaves into several manageable piles. You can then bag your leaves or rake them down to your curb if you are lucky enough to have curb-side removal provided by your municipality.

Mowing over your leaves is an option if your leaf carpet is light (another reason to keep after this task!). You will have to make two or more passes to chop them up enough to leave them on the lawn as fertilizer. If you have a large yard with lots of trees, get a mulching blade for your mower – it will finely chop up grass blades and leaves that can more quickly sink into the soil and feed your lawn.

Using your leaves to make compost is great if you enjoy gardening. The good news is that leaves can be the mainstay of your compost pile. They are classified as “brown material” which should make up about two-thirds of everything that goes into a compost pile. Rake your leaves onto a tarp and drag them to the compost area***. You really don’t need a fancy bin. If you have only a few leaves, you can dig them directly into your garden and let them decompose over winter.

Enjoy your yard and all it has to offer. From raking leaves to your final pass with the fertilizer spreader, know that the time you spend pays off in a more beautiful yard every year.

***How to Start a Compost Pile

Anyone with a backyard can start an environmentally friendly compost pile rather easily. Composting keeps organic yard and household waste out of local landfills while allowing you to create a rich, excellent mulch for your flowerbeds and vegetable garden. Here are some composting basics:

• You may want to create a simple, three-sided compost “box” of wooden boards to contain your compost materials, or you can just create a compost pile in an out-of-the way corner of your yard. Your goal is to create a layered pile of organic material about three feet tall and three feet square. This will allow the organic materials in the pile to heat up inside and decompose.

• Rule of thumb: The more you manage your compost pile, the quicker you will get rich, black compost. Management ranges from simply leaving the pile (everything decays in time, but this method may take a year or more) to turning the compost once or twice a week with a garden spade so the cooler exterior of the pile is turned under.

• Keep your compost pile damp. Depending upon your weather, this may be easy to achieve naturally during some seasons. You can check for moisture by turning over the compost with a spade – the center of the pile shouldn’t dry out. Depending upon the weather, you may have to sprinkle your compost pile occasionally to keep it damp, or cover it with a tarp to prevent it from being soaked regularly.

• The interior of the pile should be warm. This indicates decomposition of the organic materials is taking place.

• There should be both "brown" (carbon-rich) and "green" (nitrogen-rich) ingredients in your compost pile. Brown components are rich in carbon and include dried leaves, pine needles, spoiled hay, straw and paper. Make sure that most of the items – about two-thirds – are brown ingredients.

• Green ingredients are rich in nitrogen. You will want to create a thin layer of green ingredients between thick layers of brown ingredients. Remember, two thirds of your pile should be brown. You can create a five-to-six inch layer of brown, topped with up to two inches of green, then another layer of brown, and so on. Common green components include grass clippings, yard refuse (old vegetable stalks, last fall's flower stalks), coffee grounds, barnyard animal manure and fruit and vegetable kitchen waste (don’t add chemically-treated grass clippings, cat litter, dog feces, or meat/fat and bones). Avoid adding protein sources from meat to a compost bin, as protein tends to smell as it decomposes, attracting pests like raccoons and other creatures. A smelly compost pile means that meat sources were added to the pile. A compost pile using vegetable matter does not produce an odor.

• A few additional tips: You can throw weeds into the compost pile (green material) because the center of the pile heats up enough to kill weed seeds. If you get lots of rain where you live, tarp your pile so it doesn’t get soaked – damp is all you want. Depending on weather, your dedication to tending the pile and the ingredients in it, you can expect rich compost in four-10 months.