There was a mid forties, partially sunny, window of opportunity to get some end of season cleanup done before the next winter blast arrives tonight. In this garden the preference is to leave many of the perennials standing for winter interest and the wild life. The big mow down will happen in February.
The evergreens and design structure of the overall garden will carry it through the brown winter months and still maintain a great deal of interest whether it is buried in snow or not.
Mostly I go down there to pick up sticks and organize leaves. The more ragged looking perennials get cut back, but I keep it to a minimum. I knew I had to come back because two large Sweetgum trees and a couple of Japanese Maples were not letting go of their leaves long after all the others were bare. The Sweetgum is still full of leaves.
In this garden the leaves get layered into the shrub borders and into beds that have spring bulb and annual displays for the summer. I just rake them in and don't bother to grind them up with a mower or shredder. They seem to disappear just fine and make a fine mulch.
Down there I rake leaves. Up here in the forest it isn't even considered.
Posts
5 comments:
The Grumpy Gardener over at the Southern Living blog went on a tear about people bagging their leaves for the landfill rather than using them in their gardens as free mulch. I follow GG's example and all the dead leaves went on the daylilies for the winter.
Looks like you're going to snowed in and we may not hear from you for a while. Greensboro will be missed by the storm this time, thank god!
That's what I use for mulch. It's free and plentiful at just the right time. I quit grinding mine too. The summer heat makes quick work of them.
Oh those poor fish, I do hope they will be ok.
Good deal on using leaves as mulch. That is what I did when I mowed. Also cut grass is good. I have a few leaves that need raked but will wait as trees down here take their time about loosing their leaves.
Sure hope you have a mild winter. And none of the problems like last.
Karen I am about to get smacked hard with winter again. When they say three inches, I can expect twice that. Yea it doesn't make sense to waste such a good resource as free leaves.
Tom I was raised as a baby gardener to collect the pine straw which was plentiful in Florida and mulch the beds with it. That was just the way things were done. That bed under the Sweetgums is almost back to bare earth by the end of summer. It decomposes plenty fast. This garden also gets regular loads of hardwood mulch too. Last year though I skipped the hardwood mulch because it was getting too thick. It's pretty much gone now so in early spring it will get the hardwood mulch again.
Lola maybe winter is going to get the fury out of its system early. What's comin' now looks a bit scary.
Post a Comment