Fallen leaves are woodland gardeners’ gold

Leave the leaves where they fall

It’s that time of year when bags and bags of leaves are put out to the curbside as if they were some kind trash.

One might think these leaves are of no value whatsoever.

But gardeners know that one person’s garbage, is a another person’s gold.

Woodland gardeners know the value of a bag of leaves better than most. While others are lining their curbs with compostable bags of leaves, many of us are debating whether they should load up their trunks with their neighbours’ leaves.

Known as black gold, there is nothing better for your garden than leaf mold – the results of simply composting the leaves that fall from our trees. A resource freely available to us every Fall.

While leaf mold is a tremendous addition to our gardens, it’s always best for local wildlife to just leave the leaves where they fall. Or, just rake the leaves on to our gardens where they will eventually break down.

But if that’s not an option for you, rake the leaves into piles in a corner of your garden and leave them for a year or two before spreading them over your garden beds.

Leaves from a Japanese Maple form a carpet over pachysandra. If you can, leave them where they fall, if not move them to a corner in the yard where they can be composted to form leaf mold.

What makes leaf mold so good for our gardens?

One needs only to go to a forest to see the benefits of leaf mold in action. Just push pack the top layer of dried leaves and you’ll likely come across that rich layer of leaf mold. You will find a crumbly, brown, moist layer of decomposing matter with a lovely earthy scent.

I remember that earthy smell best from early spring photo expeditions in the woodlands around our home. A group of us photographers would go out into our local woodlands in the Carolinian zone looking for Hepatica, Blood Root, Trilliums, Dog-Tooth violets you name it. When we kneeled among them, even if the ground seemed bone dry, the spongy soil would leave our pants’ knees wet, and the aroma of fresh earth would fill the air.

It’s those early memories out in the woods that make me realize now just how fertile that forest soil was.

Leaf mold, that “stuff” that left the knees of our pants all wet and earthy smelling, was nothing more than several seasons of partially decomposed leaves that are somewhere between shredded leaves and pure woodland humus.

Here is the golden part: Leaf mold can hold up to 500 per cent of its own weight in water. You know all that snow that melts in early spring and the rains that follow, well leaf mold traps most of that water and both feeds and protects the young emerging plants. It also helps feed the roots of the established perennials that are also beginning to emerge.

Do everything you can to treat your woodland garden as if it is a natural forest.

Like a forest floor, yearly applications of leaves falling on your garden will significantly improve the quality of your soil by, among other things, having a moderating effect on the pH levels in your soils.

Over time, soil will have a better water-holding capacity, a more friable texture, and an increase in beneficial soil life.

In many Woodlands, leaves are simply left on the ground to slowly decompose. In this approach, it could likely take several years for the process to be complete.

In our fern glen, for example, leaves are left where they fall and more leaves are added to the area from other parts of the garden. The leaves not only improve the soil, but provide a blanket for the ferns over the winter.

Leaving the leaves on the ground throughout the winter is definitely the best approach.

Many insects, larvae, birds, reptiles and small mammals depend on leaf cover to survive cold winters.

Wherever you can, leave the leaves where they fall until spring cleanup. And don’t be in too much of a hurry in the spring to begin cleanup. Leaving them until later in spring will give many of the overwintering insects, larvae and eggs an opportunity to complete their cycle. Not only will it help wildlife, the leaves also provide a blanket for our plants, shrubs and tree roots. Yes it looks a little messy. Your neighbours will probably be freaking out, but once the leaves are covered with a blanket of snow, it’s all forgotten.

Unfortunately, for many of us leaving the fallen leaves in place may not be possible. In a smaller yard, a corner of the garden could be set aside for leaf collection either in an open-pit style of composter, or contained inside steel mesh or a more traditional composter.

Can I create leaf mold in one year?

It’s possible to create finished leaf mold in a single year but several steps need to be followed to create the right conditions to speed up the process.’

Unlike traditional compost, leaf mold is created using a cold composting process and decomposition is the result of fungi rather than bacteria.

To speed up the process follow these recommendations: use a variety of leaf types Oak, Maple, Linden, Birch…; keep them moist (not wet); try to shred as many as possible so they are smaller; build a large pile (six feet wide by five feet high or about 20-30 bag fulls). Please note that shredding the leaves actually threatens the lives of the insects, larvae and eggs of butterflies, moths and insects that live in and on the leaves.

If this seems like too much work, you can simply put the leaves into large plastic bags with holes cut into them, add some water, some garden soil, compost or manure and a leave them in a corner of the yard for a year or two. It won’t take long for the leaves to break down under these conditions.

The leaf mold is ready to use when it’s soft and crumbly. Spread it around your perennials or incorporate it right into your soil.

Repeat every Fall.

(For years, my wife and I have used the plastic leaf claws (see Amazon ads above) to pick up leaves that fall on our driveway and pile up against large boulders along the edge of the driveway. We then put them into a collapsible bag and drag them into the back yard where they are either dumped in areas of the garden or piled in a corner. I highly recommend this approach to picking up your leaves. It’s handy and a lot easier on your back)

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