One thing I've learned is using things from your own yard and home are the best methods for compost. I've brought in invasive weeds, diseases and insects into my yard from leaves I got 5 miles from my own home.
Yeah, mower is so powerful, compared to what strike me as underpowered dedicated leaf shredding machines I’ve seen. Much rather not have special purpose, one purpose, equipment.
Heck yeah! None of my leaves ever get hauled away. I've been mulching them for over 10 years. Start out with a 30 foot row, 3 feet high along my fence line in November. I turn it periodically every week or two, keep it moist, and consolidate it as it breaks down. By September I have a 4 x 3 foot pile of beautiful mulch. Great for worm growth and harvesting too, which means the robins help me turn and aerate the pile. It's a little work, but I enjoy the sweet earthy aroma and spreading the final product in my garden.
I chased the street sweeper away the other day. Then shovelled it all into my yard. Been composting also, over 20 years. Hardly anything goes in the trash.
Even better in so many ways is visiting your local landfill as many offer a seemingly endless supply of wood chips and (separately) leaf mold. This substantially reduces the labor in Involved in emptying the bags and mowing over and over again (clogging up your air filter and nose). The leaf mold and chips in my region appear to be at least 6 months old…in essence almost soil. I hope this helps out some gardeners with enormous supplies of organic material, free, less work and already broken down for a bit. Happy gardening to all.
back when i worked landscaping I marveled at how people paid us to remove the leaves from their yard and flower beds, we would then haul them away, compost them and then they would pay us again to spread the leaves back as mulch
Living in a very dry state it is crazy how gardening methods differ. In this dry state my leaves never get wet. They don't get matted either. Kinda disappointing really. I really enjoyed as a kid lifting up old leaf bags and finding earthworms. Leaves still make a great mulch down here. They visibly protect the soil and slowly break down all winter.
What's a weed wacker? A strimmer - with the plastic strip that whizzes around? Is it not a bit violent for a small space like a trash can? Even an electric one. And with the length of it, rather awkward to handle vertically?
I learned about leaf compost last year. Instead of bagging, my leaves go into my compost area. It's amazing stuff. Also, while I do use my lawn mower, I also use a leaf vac - that grinds it all down to an even finer chop. $70 and worth every penny. Great stuff here James - thank you!
@@bryans6539 I have the Toro Ultra - but the Worx may be a better system. Price difference is nominal but there is an manual conversion from vac to mulcher on the Toro - although it's easy. Both have metal impellers which is a must.
My ash tree drops too early, so those go in the chicken pen to get destroyed. I already can't tell I dumped them there two weeks ago. The chickens scratched them up good. I pile my later leaves up an mow them, then spread them on the ground and cover with wood chips. When spring hits there's a nice little layer of good dirt. I mix the chicken waste in my wheel barrel with wood chips, then spread in the walk ways. The good stuff leeches into the growing areas when it rains and gets the plants high on nutrition. Thanks for reminding me to break out the rake, tomorrow.
I live in the Philippines, so we use rice husks for mulch. You have to add mulch every year or so because the rice husks break down into compost fairly quickly. Over time, the soil is enriched and raised instead of settling.
Love the channel and your energy! I'd like to share a tip someone shared with me. Mow the grass to bag and dump, then mow shallow piles of whole leaves with no bag or discharge (to mulch) 2 or 3 times, then mow same area to bag. . It REALLY chops those leaves up nice and fine.
My husband has been doing the same thing for about 10 years and I always doubted if that's a good way to create mulch. But seeing you say/do it made me totally change my mind and we will keep on doing it. Thank you!
Thanks so much, James! We appreciate the detail in your videos. it helps to know the science so we know what we are aiming for. You get better and better! We are so proud of our Food Forest! And we owe it to you-watching one of your vids a number of years ago, looking out at our front yard and saying "Let's do what James is doing!" Thanks again!
I use grass clippings from my yard with the leaves. I use the lawn mover to cutting my leaves too! The pine (white pine) needles are perfect for putting around berries esp. blue berries. I rake them separately. They are very acidic and that is what berries like. It improved my crop harvest the last two years I've been using them. White pine the friendly pine you can shake hands with! It's what my father taught me. Collecting leaves from neighbors is a great idea. Thanks for your videos James.
In Australia we have brigalow trees. The mulch from these leaves is Devine. I can still smell it when I think about us clearing the leaves to make cubby houses underneath the trees.
This was so great. Today we mulched and put leaves into our bare garden beds. I wasn’t sure how long it takes to break down but I plan to add compost onto the leaves and then seed our cover crop mix. Hope it helps our garden soil.
I pick up leaves by towing a leaf sweeper attachment behind my yard tractor , then use my leaf blower to shred them. I do use pine needles as mulch in my strawberry beds and it works very well. They are somewhat acidic, which strawberries like, and the pine needles block weeds. They will break down just like leaves and add organic matter to the soil.
@@meredithheath5272 Yes, most gas-powered leaf blowers have two functions, they can blow air out which allows the user to direct the powerful stream of air and push leaves into a pile. They can also act in reverse, like a vacuum cleaner, and suck up leaves and push them through a revolving set of metal blades which chops them up.
ATTENTION Tuckophiles - super model glamour shots start at 3:03 LOL!! Damn that pup is cute! Thanks James for the great info! Here in Australia we don't have the fall leaves but I've been really lucky to find a few huge piles of dried leaves (at the golf course 'dumping' area) and I've put them through my shredder - your info makes me more confident I'm doing the right thing. Actually I've just come from there with bags of beautiful humus - the only cost was the time to sift it - and it's better quality than the potting mixes you buy. Yes I'm lucky I have access to this but you're right - sometimes all it takes is thinking outside the square. Love the videos - thanks Mate!!
For a few years now I've been using leaves as compost and mulch. In 2020 I collected 350 bags from neighbors within a few miles radius from my garden. It took me 7 days of collecting between late October to mid-November here in central Indiana. I run the lawn mower over the leaves once then a 2nd time with the mower bag. I didn't make the time to cut all the leaves up so the leaf pile was 7 to 8 foot tall and at least 14 feet in diameter. (A young child's dream!) I added some of 2019's compost as an inoculator to the 2020 pile. I add kitchen scraps to a portion of the pile yielding compost and the other portion just turns into leaf mold. I also add urine to the pile weekly. I turned the pile with a pitchfork a few times during the summer. In early October I moved most of the new compost, including some leaf mold, onto my 3 raised bed gardens and 8 planter boxes. This past week I planted 402 garlic cloves into 1 of the raised beds and some directly in the soil (no raised bed) and placed 3-4" of chopped leaves as a mulch on top. The garlic will have no trouble breaking through the shredded leaves in the spring. The leaf mulch will be composted into the soil by the garlic harvest around 4th of July. Falling leaves are delayed this year and I should start canvassing the neighborhoods the night before trash day this week. I also need to get more garlic planted before the ground freezes. I saved enough garlic bulbs to plant over a thousand this year. (In 2020 I planted a total of 958 cloves from 4 varieties of porcelain hard neck garlic.) I eat them, sell them at a farmers market, and use them in garlic scape dip, beet hummus and other recipes that we sell for church fundraising. Right now I'm making my first batch of black garlic in a rice cooker. Happy leaf collecting everyone. Enjoy your garden like James and Tuck!
I would suggest running over the leaves with the mower about three times to really break them down. One pass can leave a lot leaves intact. The rule of thumb I use is that the final pile of leaves should be about half of what it was at the start. There still will be some bigger pieces, but a lot of it will be about the size of cornflakes. It gives you a lot more surface area to break things down.
Love the enthusiasm in your videos, one of my fav channels that's high on gardening & low on gimmicks! One humble tip from me - if you can mix the shredded leaf mulch with equal parts dirt (soil) and cow manure, and leave it to compost in a bin with holes (for airation) for 40-50 days, adding a glass of water every week, the quality of mulch/ manure becomes exponentially higher. Do try it. 🙂
Hello, I'm Ahmed from Egypt, I like to follow you very much Always waiting for the new video I want to say a suggestion Why don't you grow mushrooms And beekeeping to produce honey and help plants to bear fruit
James, I got an infestation of slugs from using leaf litter that wasn't composted enough. Slugs love to live under the leaves and you can go out in the early Spring morning when its damp and the little buggers were feasting on my lettuce! Thanks for the videos! Tell everyone to check with their city landfill for composted material they pick up! It's usually free.
Hello James I enjoy watching all of your videos, and every video is full of knowledge. I have a garden and this fall I will prepare it for the next growing season. I will plant different herbs and vegetables. I appreciate you sharing your knowledge and teaching organic gardening. Your friend Ameer ❤❤❤❤
Watch out! Some leaves from trees inhibit plant growth. Do you know what trees do this? That is easy. Look at the leaves fallen from a tree. Is anything growing around that tree even though the leaves are not so thickly deposited on the ground?
I use shredded dry leaves, but I just collect them into large rolling trash cans. I can roll them to where I want to use them, and they stay dry very reliably. Also they look a little better than a bunch of black trash bags. Also, I have a lot of leaves on my lawn every fall, so On a nice dry day I just "mow" them with my grass catching lawn mower. If they are totally dry, I save them, If they are damp or mixed with grass, I use them on my compost pile. TIP: In addition to looking out for pine needles when collecting other folks' leaf bags, make sure they don't contain black walnut leaves.
James- tell us about the difference between leaf mulch & leaf MOLD mulch. As a kid we spread the free town leaf mold mulch in the flower/perennial beds every spring. Still love the smell!
One thing I miss about New Jersey is the access to deciduous leaves and grass clippings. Here in Wilmington, NC, all we have are pine needles. Even the lawns are all centipede grass, so it is full of seed tops 😔 Free mulch here is hard to find.
I know the feeling. I wish I could keep pine needles out of my mulch and compost, but like you they are just too prevalent. As a result, I have slowly learned how to deal with pine needles. First, they require composting with A LOT of greens, so save them for the spring/summer when grass clippings are plentiful. I have found a 1:1:1 combination of pine needles, fresh grass cuttings, and coffee grounds from local coffee shops works great. In pallet sized bins, the compost easily gets to 160F or more for weeks which will zap any seeds and will quickly break down the pine needles. And if you have the means to turn it, do so at least once, and you will have finished compost in three to four months. Second, if you are unable to source adequate greens, I have found pine needles will compost down in a cold pile in about a year, and the resulting compost is quite beautiful and fungal dominated. Pine needles, unlike leaves or grass, don't mat down. And while the waxy coat takes a while to break down, once it does, the needles disintegrate quite rapidly creating a beautiful hummus that is fungal dominated. I have one pile, and every time it rains, mushrooms pop out all over it. Quite fascinating. And I love salting my container plants with it.
@@nygardenguru it is live oak, red bay, southern yellow pine and magnolia, here. Very few trees drop their leaves in the coastal South. It is similar to Florida forests where the trees are pine and evergreens.
@@JW-oo6kh they’re...ok. They don’t break down like chopped up leaves. They are ok at weed prevention, but in my opinion, they’re not great for building soil. They aren’t the best source of organic matter for attracting worms and turning our sandy soil into dark loam. I need to import bark mulch for that.
I've been gathering leaves in a large 50 gal plastic garbage can. I use my weed wacker to chop up the leaves in the garbage can to make leaf mold. This is the first time trying this. The weed wacker really pulverizes the leaves down to a very small size. Depending on how long you leave the weed wacker in the garbage can, you could really pulverize the leaves down to a powder. I've got a lot of leaves in that garbage can. After seeing your video about using leaves for mulch, I might just use my chopped up leave for mulch next year if the leaf mold doesn't work out.
Love the video! Great information, always inspired by your enthusiasm James The Tuck-ster is handsome as ever! I enjoy reading the comments as well. I have oak leaves, acorns, and pine needles. The push lawn mower that came with the house doesn't have a bag attachment. Our "front lawn" is some grass, some moss, some dirt . We have SO many leaves, raking was not an option, I bought a leaf vacuum mulcher on Amazon 4 years ago. It sucks up the leaves, chops them and dumps them in a bag. I keep a large garbage can near by so I can keep dumping the bag. With all the rain we get in the fall, it's a challenge to find a dry time to vacuum and chop. I have done the leaves damp, but the bag gets heavy! It's my garden exercise routine,
Hey Team Tuck! A 200 IQ is truly a Beautiful Mind. I learn so much from your channel and try to apply it in my garden. The best part is that I love the work and eating the rewards of the harvest, investment of time and patience. Cheers!
I do the same thing. Question for you. How do you water your garden. I've watched a lot of your videos and if you talk about a watering system, I've missed it.
I will try this with eucalyptus leaves in a shredder, then compost them a little. Then use on my veggies. I can get tons of Eucalyptus leaves in the Australian bush.
Thanks 👍 for trips on leaves I used them then put my mold leaves are in my yard mine are small I will use my leaves around my vegetables plants I put some around my fruits trees 🙏 for sharing I learned a lot from you about gardening tuck is a good friend I am living in linden town Guyana south America a warm country thanks 🙏
I love using “free” leaves. As a kid we would help our elder neighbors out by raking all their leaves, putting them into piles, then tossing the young kids into the piles to let them roll around in them. Loads of fun!!! And the young ones crushed most of the leaves for us. Lol. Then we tossed the leaves on to the old fashioned row garden. That’s the way we enjoyed our fall. I have seen one gardener on You Tube (I am sorry I forgot his name), who placed his leaves in the brown paper leaf bags. He packed them down snuggly, closed them up, then stacked them around the garden area to “winter”. I thought that was a cool idea to try.
My super secret! I’ve been enjoying free leaves for years. One day I will no longer be able to get this for free, but enjoying them while I can! All of your tips I’ve been doing for a few years. I agree with every tip you gave James!
I have 2 maple trees. I blow them into an area, then reverse the leaf blower to suck them in. Mine is a 12 to 1, supposed to decrease 12 bags of leaves down to 1 bag. It's finer than your leaves. I put them in some old plastic garbage cans with holes drilled on the bottom and along the sides. In the spring I used them as mulch but at the bottom of my cans, it's black gold, all decomposed for the most part. Same concept but I think the 12:1 helps break down the leaves into compost quicker. Just a suggestion for those who have a leaf blower that reverses to a vacuum.
I have been collecting leaves for the last couple of weeks, including from friends! I am mulching areas that I not using this winter and on top of garlic. I'm not using them around my lettuce or brassicas. I live in the Pacific Northwest and we get major slugs in the winter. The leaves seem to make it worse as they can hide in them. Does anyone else notice that? But don't worry, I will still put all those leaves to good use - compost and leave mold!
When the video started I said "leaves"! Have to check my IQ :) But seriously, I've been mulching my flower bed in the front yard with leaves that fall from the tree in the street. I'm always short on compost and this works great even though considering it's from the street and it's probably not the cleanest but good enough for the flowers.
I've been using whole leaves around my perennials for years with no problems with matting. I basically just rake the leaves off the grass and dump them in perennial beds over the winter. For sure agree about chopping them up for annuals though.
Love your channel James. I’ll have to admit. I have watched less, this year than last year. Reason being, you are very informative. The information you give sticks In the head. I’m still thinking of a food forest in the future.! I always think of things that you hav said when I’m in the said forest and imaging what I want to do. Thank you James progioni
Great video, as always James! I just wanted to add an extra tip to everyone: you can also make leaf mold for other areas of your yard too. It's a great additive around trees, shrubs & flower beds. It improves the soil structure Everywhere. That's why forests floors are the 'super soils' of nature. Leaves are not Just for the food gardens. So if you have a large yard with more leaves than you need for your food gardens or you collect more leaves than you need, make leaf mold. It's easy (just chop, pile, keep damp), you can have beautiful leaf mold in 1-2 years the first time , then if you continue this, you'll have it every year. It's as fantastic as compost in it's own way. There's no 'nutritional' benefit to the soil, but healthy soil structure is as beneficial as composting.
Would you recommend using leaves as a mulch over winter to try insulate soil some and keep it alive over winter. Here in michigan trying to decide what to do with all my soil in beds over winter
The only thing with leaves is how can you ensure that the leaves are disease free? And what percentage of infected leaves would be considered ok when mulching. Great video as always James.
I know this is quite old, and I am not a pro at gardening, but to my knowledge there is no way to ensure leaves are disease free. In the terrarium hobby, people who add leaves as compost in their terrarium will literally put leaves in the oven to kill anything on them (fungus, disease, pesky insects), but this would be extremely tedious with the amount of leaves you would need for a large amount of compost. For a small garden though, it could work.
James,if you'd like an even smaller and more uniform mastication of the leaves,draw your mower over the leaves backwards.Give it a try this autumn.I really enjoy your channel, thanks, your Pennsylvania neighbor.
I use both to but process my leaves in the fall to help with starting the breakdown process. In summer I use triple shredded hardwood mulch. So that way it's broken down by the next spring.
Very informative! I love how fast you speak.....lol....So many youtube videos put me to sleep while waiting for their info. Cant wait to view your other videos!
I used straw this year and it was full of seeds. I guess seed heads got sucked up into the binder. First time straw has done this to me, but I had some kind of grain coming up all summer. Also, I love clean grass clippings, they turn brown quick and get "sucked" into the soil by worms fast. Also very free. :) Thanks for your video.
Yes, leaves! We use a vacuum machine that shreds the leaves in what is similar to a lawn mower and has a large bag on the back of the machine. Take the bag off and spread the chopped leaves around where desired. We used leaves here in our desert garden this past year - have a few deciduous trees here.
I love layering mulches in the fall around my fall crops or on bare beds - compost, straw, and leaves, and sometimes wood chips where I know I’ll be planting hardy plants and large seeds, but I’ve been mostly using wood chips in my walkways. By the way, you can find safe hay and also use the mower to chop it up for easy spreading.
My city processes the leaves for us and leaves them at local parks! Its amazing, and free. This is going to be my first year trying it on my annuals, im excited
Good idea. Leaves are the best. I use maple and oak and put 4 ft of leaves as deep litter for my chickens to shred them up and then also make rough compost using mostly leaves. it makes a nice black partially composted mulch. a perfect compost mulch hybrid. Just starting to reap the rewards after about 7 years of top dressing and at the most fork aerating
Peppers are naturally perennials, but annualize in colder climates via their seed. That’s why they get that woodier stem. So it makes sense that you can treat them as a perennial later on…they are!
Yes wonderful ideas! Your so cool! Love learning from your videos! Thank you! Ps your dog is absolutely the most adorable dog that’s saying a lot sense I have some!
My wife tried to copy your intro motion where you stick your hand in the air while yelling "What's going on?" She hit her hand on the table but she's ok. I like using leaf mulch. We screen ours with 1 inch soil screen after grinding it so the mulch this is applied looks uniform.
(Hello, cute doggie!) Getting a shredder is a great idea, if you live in an apartment, like I do, and someone mows the lawn so I don't have access to that process. I do have access to leaves, but no lawn mower - again - shredder - a great idea!
Thank you. I have big trees so I collect them with my lawnmower like you showed. My dilemma is that inevitably I will end up with some grass clippings? Is that okay? Also I dump all of that in the back of the yard. Should I dig it up and bag it till I need it. Sorry for the silly question.
I have too many leaves to store them bagged. I would never be able to use them all for mulching purposes, so I need to compost them for reduction. A moderate amount of grass will actually facilitate composting. Too much though and it will go anaerobic and stink. I leave mine open to the elements and turn periodically to aerate. It takes several months under the right conditions.
He is collecting other peoples leaves where he doesnt know what herbicides etc they may have put on their grass. Your own grass is clean presumeably so is excellent mulch in itself. He is collecting it in bags & then he chops it up and uses it in Spring. No reason at all not to chop up and use in the Fall when you collect them. But he is also saying if a fair amount of grass is mixed in and the leaves are stored, it will rot down and likely make the leaves soggy and hard to chop up.
Been my experience over the years that when I heavily mulch with leaves in the fall and move them back in the spring to plant seeds in the soil or even seedlings, they do not sprout or do well that year. I am sure that is because fresh leaves have toxins in them that keep weeds from growing under the trees. Now I use leaves as a mulch only after they have set in a pile for a season.
as a note: many of the state parks and city parks do not permit pesticides (check first) and will allow you to gather the cut/mown grass after they go around and trim. ALWAYS ASK FIRST.
I just wanted to let you know that your excitement and enthusiasm puts a smile on my face every time I click on one of your videos.
Yessssssssss! ♥️
Yes! The opening makes me laugh every time--in a good way!
Agreed
One thing I've learned is using things from your own yard and home are the best methods for compost. I've brought in invasive weeds, diseases and insects into my yard from leaves I got 5 miles from my own home.
A quick way to inoculate the leaves is to turn them into biochar.
WOW! I love that lawn mower method of chopping up the leaves.
Yeah, mower is so powerful, compared to what strike me as underpowered dedicated leaf shredding machines I’ve seen. Much rather not have special purpose, one purpose, equipment.
I just found you! Oh my goodness! You make me think that maybe I can have a garden. Thank you!
Heck yeah! None of my leaves ever get hauled away. I've been mulching them for over 10 years. Start out with a 30 foot row, 3 feet high along my fence line in November. I turn it periodically every week or two, keep it moist, and consolidate it as it breaks down. By September I have a 4 x 3 foot pile of beautiful mulch. Great for worm growth and harvesting too, which means the robins help me turn and aerate the pile. It's a little work, but I enjoy the sweet earthy aroma and spreading the final product in my garden.
I chased the street sweeper away the other day. Then shovelled it all into my yard. Been composting also, over 20 years. Hardly anything goes in the trash.
It it breaks down it's gone from mulch to compost 👍
Even better in so many ways is visiting your local landfill as many offer a seemingly endless supply of wood chips and (separately) leaf mold. This substantially reduces the labor in Involved in emptying the bags and mowing over and over again (clogging up your air filter and nose). The leaf mold and chips in my region appear to be at least 6 months old…in essence almost soil. I hope this helps out some gardeners with enormous supplies of organic material, free, less work and already broken down for a bit. Happy gardening to all.
back when i worked landscaping I marveled at how people paid us to remove the leaves from their yard and flower beds, we would then haul them away, compost them and then they would pay us again to spread the leaves back as mulch
I usually mow over the leaves first without a bag, then the 2nd time with a bag, it makes nice small mulch.
Just love your aggressiveness of getting to the crunch of what is needed. Geat job!!!
I miss you and Tuck over the winter months :(
🤧
The mower shredding idea is brilliant! Thank you!
Living in a very dry state it is crazy how gardening methods differ. In this dry state my leaves never get wet. They don't get matted either. Kinda disappointing really. I really enjoyed as a kid lifting up old leaf bags and finding earthworms. Leaves still make a great mulch down here. They visibly protect the soil and slowly break down all winter.
Sweet content as always James! I like to put my leaves in a trash can and use a weed whacker. Really chops those suckers up!
Agreed!
What's a weed wacker? A strimmer - with the plastic strip that whizzes around?
Is it not a bit violent for a small space like a trash can? Even an electric one. And with the length of it, rather awkward to handle vertically?
I do this too! I don't have a lawnmower - or a 200 IQ!!
@Grace Asher i'm all about the violence ----rocks and leaves in cement mixer
Next best thing to a lawnmower
I learned about leaf compost last year. Instead of bagging, my leaves go into my compost area. It's amazing stuff. Also, while I do use my lawn mower, I also use a leaf vac - that grinds it all down to an even finer chop. $70 and worth every penny. Great stuff here James - thank you!
The worx one? I’m considering it!
@@bryans6539 I have the Toro Ultra - but the Worx may be a better system. Price difference is nominal but there is an manual conversion from vac to mulcher on the Toro - although it's easy. Both have metal impellers which is a must.
My ash tree drops too early, so those go in the chicken pen to get destroyed. I already can't tell I dumped them there two weeks ago. The chickens scratched them up good. I pile my later leaves up an mow them, then spread them on the ground and cover with wood chips. When spring hits there's a nice little layer of good dirt.
I mix the chicken waste in my wheel barrel with wood chips, then spread in the walk ways. The good stuff leeches into the growing areas when it rains and gets the plants high on nutrition.
Thanks for reminding me to break out the rake, tomorrow.
I live in the Philippines, so we use rice husks for mulch. You have to add mulch every year or so because the rice husks break down into compost fairly quickly. Over time, the soil is enriched and raised instead of settling.
First! I love to use mulch in garden. It breaks down and is good for the soil. Be blessed! 💕
Let's Gooo Virtous Gardener 91, yeah ya can't beat a good organic mulch
Love the channel and your energy! I'd like to share a tip someone shared with me. Mow the grass to bag and dump, then mow shallow piles of whole leaves with no bag or discharge (to mulch) 2 or 3 times, then mow same area to bag. . It REALLY chops those leaves up nice and fine.
My husband has been doing the same thing for about 10 years and I always doubted if that's a good way to create mulch. But seeing you say/do it made me totally change my mind and we will keep on doing it. Thank you!
Same here!
Thanks so much, James! We appreciate the detail in your videos. it helps to know the science so we know what we are aiming for. You get better and better! We are so proud of our Food Forest! And we owe it to you-watching one of your vids a number of years ago, looking out at our front yard and saying "Let's do what James is doing!" Thanks again!
Yes! Thank you! Love the lawn mower idea and storing leaves in bags over winter
You have the best enthusiasm!👍
I use grass clippings from my yard with the leaves. I use the lawn mover to cutting my leaves too! The pine (white pine) needles are perfect for putting around berries esp. blue berries. I rake them separately. They are very acidic and that is what berries like. It improved my crop harvest the last two years I've been using them. White pine the friendly pine you can shake hands with! It's what my father taught me. Collecting leaves from neighbors is a great idea. Thanks for your videos James.
In Australia we have brigalow trees. The mulch from these leaves is Devine. I can still smell it when I think about us clearing the leaves to make cubby houses underneath the trees.
Nature gives us everything we need for free, love this planet, especially babies like Tuck! 🤗
I get my leaves delivered now. My raised garden beds are 95% composted leaves. The soil is awesome. You can see my raised beds on my channel.
Leaves will blow away so I cover with old fence pickets. Those keep the soil very moist and will start fungal/mushroom which helps the soil too.
This was so great. Today we mulched and put leaves into our bare garden beds. I wasn’t sure how long it takes to break down but I plan to add compost onto the leaves and then seed our cover crop mix. Hope it helps our garden soil.
I pick up leaves by towing a leaf sweeper attachment behind my yard tractor , then use my leaf blower to shred them. I do use pine needles as mulch in my strawberry beds and it works very well. They are somewhat acidic, which strawberries like, and the pine needles block weeds. They will break down just like leaves and add organic matter to the soil.
I just picked up my leaves this way. I have pine needles. Now I will put them around my strawberries. Thanks.
A leaf blower shreds leaves?
@@meredithheath5272 Yes, most gas-powered leaf blowers have two functions, they can blow air out which allows the user to direct the powerful stream of air and push leaves into a pile. They can also act in reverse, like a vacuum cleaner, and suck up leaves and push them through a revolving set of metal blades which chops them up.
@@tomst9417 👍👍🍂👏👍
ATTENTION Tuckophiles - super model glamour shots start at 3:03 LOL!! Damn that pup is cute! Thanks James for the great info! Here in Australia we don't have the fall leaves but I've been really lucky to find a few huge piles of dried leaves (at the golf course 'dumping' area) and I've put them through my shredder - your info makes me more confident I'm doing the right thing. Actually I've just come from there with bags of beautiful humus - the only cost was the time to sift it - and it's better quality than the potting mixes you buy. Yes I'm lucky I have access to this but you're right - sometimes all it takes is thinking outside the square. Love the videos - thanks Mate!!
Ugh, dog people
For a few years now I've been using leaves as compost and mulch. In 2020 I collected 350 bags from neighbors within a few miles radius from my garden. It took me 7 days of collecting between late October to mid-November here in central Indiana. I run the lawn mower over the leaves once then a 2nd time with the mower bag. I didn't make the time to cut all the leaves up so the leaf pile was 7 to 8 foot tall and at least 14 feet in diameter. (A young child's dream!) I added some of 2019's compost as an inoculator to the 2020 pile. I add kitchen scraps to a portion of the pile yielding compost and the other portion just turns into leaf mold. I also add urine to the pile weekly. I turned the pile with a pitchfork a few times during the summer. In early October I moved most of the new compost, including some leaf mold, onto my 3 raised bed gardens and 8 planter boxes. This past week I planted 402 garlic cloves into 1 of the raised beds and some directly in the soil (no raised bed) and placed 3-4" of chopped leaves as a mulch on top. The garlic will have no trouble breaking through the shredded leaves in the spring. The leaf mulch will be composted into the soil by the garlic harvest around 4th of July. Falling leaves are delayed this year and I should start canvassing the neighborhoods the night before trash day this week. I also need to get more garlic planted before the ground freezes. I saved enough garlic bulbs to plant over a thousand this year. (In 2020 I planted a total of 958 cloves from 4 varieties of porcelain hard neck garlic.) I eat them, sell them at a farmers market, and use them in garlic scape dip, beet hummus and other recipes that we sell for church fundraising. Right now I'm making my first batch of black garlic in a rice cooker. Happy leaf collecting everyone. Enjoy your garden like James and Tuck!
Very informative video. It was great to see a new one today because we all miss You and Tuck when you go dormant for the Winter!
I would suggest running over the leaves with the mower about three times to really break them down. One pass can leave a lot leaves intact.
The rule of thumb I use is that the final pile of leaves should be about half of what it was at the start. There still will be some bigger pieces, but a lot of it will be about the size of cornflakes. It gives you a lot more surface area to break things down.
Love the enthusiasm in your videos, one of my fav channels that's high on gardening & low on gimmicks! One humble tip from me - if you can mix the shredded leaf mulch with equal parts dirt (soil) and cow manure, and leave it to compost in a bin with holes (for airation) for 40-50 days, adding a glass of water every week, the quality of mulch/ manure becomes exponentially higher. Do try it. 🙂
Hello, I'm Ahmed from Egypt, I like to follow you very much
Always waiting for the new video
I want to say a suggestion
Why don't you grow mushrooms
And beekeeping to produce honey and help plants to bear fruit
Leaf litter is my favorite mulch for my indoor garden! Any subpar leaves from my Lamiaceae or other garden plants become mulching material.
Thank you James. We are using this annual and perennial method of mulching too and it is great. You are a great gardener. #LoveAndThrive
James, I got an infestation of slugs from using leaf litter that wasn't composted enough. Slugs love to live under the leaves and you can go out in the early Spring morning when its damp and the little buggers were feasting on my lettuce! Thanks for the videos! Tell everyone to check with their city landfill for composted material they pick up! It's usually free.
Hello James
I enjoy watching all of your videos, and every video is full of knowledge.
I have a garden and this fall I will prepare it for the next growing season.
I will plant different herbs and vegetables.
I appreciate you sharing your knowledge and teaching organic gardening.
Your friend Ameer
❤❤❤❤
Watch out! Some leaves from trees inhibit plant growth. Do you know what trees do this? That is easy. Look at the leaves fallen from a tree. Is anything growing around that tree even though the leaves are not so thickly deposited on the ground?
I use shredded dry leaves, but I just collect them into large rolling trash cans. I can roll them to where I want to use them, and they stay dry very reliably. Also they look a little better than a bunch of black trash bags. Also, I have a lot of leaves on my lawn every fall, so On a nice dry day I just "mow" them with my grass catching lawn mower. If they are totally dry, I save them, If they are damp or mixed with grass, I use them on my compost pile. TIP: In addition to looking out for pine needles when collecting other folks' leaf bags, make sure they don't contain black walnut leaves.
James- tell us about the difference between leaf mulch & leaf MOLD mulch. As a kid we spread the free town leaf mold mulch in the flower/perennial beds every spring. Still love the smell!
Thanks for sharing James! I appreciate all your thoughts on this subject!
We use a similar "lawn mower" prep step for our corn stalks and sweet potato vines. Genius!
Brilliant! What a wonderful idea. I'm so impressed with your channel. Well done.
Exactly what I do in south central Kentucky. I have certain neighborhoods that I always visit, around the first and second weeks of November.
Great video, James. I do this every year. It's so important to mulch consistently when you are dealing with very sandy soil.
One thing I miss about New Jersey is the access to deciduous leaves and grass clippings. Here in Wilmington, NC, all we have are pine needles. Even the lawns are all centipede grass, so it is full of seed tops 😔 Free mulch here is hard to find.
Pine needles are great.
Wow no deciduous
I know the feeling. I wish I could keep pine needles out of my mulch and compost, but like you they are just too prevalent. As a result, I have slowly learned how to deal with pine needles.
First, they require composting with A LOT of greens, so save them for the spring/summer when grass clippings are plentiful. I have found a 1:1:1 combination of pine needles, fresh grass cuttings, and coffee grounds from local coffee shops works great. In pallet sized bins, the compost easily gets to 160F or more for weeks which will zap any seeds and will quickly break down the pine needles. And if you have the means to turn it, do so at least once, and you will have finished compost in three to four months.
Second, if you are unable to source adequate greens, I have found pine needles will compost down in a cold pile in about a year, and the resulting compost is quite beautiful and fungal dominated. Pine needles, unlike leaves or grass, don't mat down. And while the waxy coat takes a while to break down, once it does, the needles disintegrate quite rapidly creating a beautiful hummus that is fungal dominated. I have one pile, and every time it rains, mushrooms pop out all over it. Quite fascinating. And I love salting my container plants with it.
@@nygardenguru it is live oak, red bay, southern yellow pine and magnolia, here. Very few trees drop their leaves in the coastal South. It is similar to Florida forests where the trees are pine and evergreens.
@@JW-oo6kh they’re...ok. They don’t break down like chopped up leaves. They are ok at weed prevention, but in my opinion, they’re not great for building soil. They aren’t the best source of organic matter for attracting worms and turning our sandy soil into dark loam. I need to import bark mulch for that.
I've been gathering leaves in a large 50 gal plastic garbage can. I use my weed wacker to chop up the leaves in the garbage can to make leaf mold. This is the first time trying this. The weed wacker really pulverizes the leaves down to a very small size. Depending on how long you leave the weed wacker in the garbage can, you could really pulverize the leaves down to a powder. I've got a lot of leaves in that garbage can. After seeing your video about using leaves for mulch, I might just use my chopped up leave for mulch next year if the leaf mold doesn't work out.
Love the video! Great information, always inspired by your enthusiasm James The Tuck-ster is handsome as ever! I enjoy reading the comments as well. I have oak leaves, acorns, and pine needles. The push lawn mower that came with the house doesn't have a bag attachment. Our "front lawn" is some grass, some moss, some dirt . We have SO many leaves, raking was not an option, I bought a leaf vacuum mulcher on Amazon 4 years ago. It sucks up the leaves, chops them and dumps them in a bag. I keep a large garbage can near by so I can keep dumping the bag. With all the rain we get in the fall, it's a challenge to find a dry time to vacuum and chop. I have done the leaves damp, but the bag gets heavy! It's my garden exercise routine,
Hey Team Tuck! A 200 IQ is truly a Beautiful Mind. I learn so much from your channel and try to apply it in my garden. The best part is that I love the work and eating the rewards of the harvest, investment of time and patience. Cheers!
I do the same thing. Question for you. How do you water your garden. I've watched a lot of your videos and if you talk about a watering system, I've missed it.
Tuck sure is a great helper!!
I will try this with eucalyptus leaves in a shredder, then compost them a little. Then use on my veggies. I can get tons of Eucalyptus leaves in the Australian bush.
Love the idea of running your lawnmower over the leaves, I’m thinking that should also work for breaking down charcoal for biochar
Thanks 👍 for trips on leaves I used them then put my mold leaves are in my yard mine are small I will use my leaves around my vegetables plants I put some around my fruits trees 🙏 for sharing I learned a lot from you about gardening tuck is a good friend I am living in linden town Guyana south America a warm country thanks 🙏
Excellent mulch info! Thanks James, keep smiling! 😉 Hey Tuck! 🐕🍁🍂
Tuck is awesome chilling on the strawberry plants 😎
I added a thick layer of leaf mulch last fall and more in spring and now its mostly gone. Amazing
I love using “free” leaves. As a kid we would help our elder neighbors out by raking all their leaves, putting them into piles, then tossing the young kids into the piles to let them roll around in them. Loads of fun!!! And the young ones crushed most of the leaves for us. Lol. Then we tossed the leaves on to the old fashioned row garden. That’s the way we enjoyed our fall.
I have seen one gardener on You Tube (I am sorry I forgot his name), who placed his leaves in the brown paper leaf bags. He packed them down snuggly, closed them up, then stacked them around the garden area to “winter”. I thought that was a cool idea to try.
Great idea James. Keep up the great, informative videos. Thank you.
Brilliant James! Thank you.
My super secret! I’ve been enjoying free leaves for years. One day I will no longer be able to get this for free, but enjoying them while I can! All of your tips I’ve been doing for a few years. I agree with every tip you gave James!
Tuck is looking so handsome. Thanks for the teachings James always learn so much from you
I have 2 maple trees. I blow them into an area, then reverse the leaf blower to suck them in. Mine is a 12 to 1, supposed to decrease 12 bags of leaves down to 1 bag. It's finer than your leaves. I put them in some old plastic garbage cans with holes drilled on the bottom and along the sides. In the spring I used them as mulch but at the bottom of my cans, it's black gold, all decomposed for the most part. Same concept but I think the 12:1 helps break down the leaves into compost quicker. Just a suggestion for those who have a leaf blower that reverses to a vacuum.
I have been collecting leaves for the last couple of weeks, including from friends! I am mulching areas that I not using this winter and on top of garlic. I'm not using them around my lettuce or brassicas. I live in the Pacific Northwest and we get major slugs in the winter. The leaves seem to make it worse as they can hide in them. Does anyone else notice that? But don't worry, I will still put all those leaves to good use - compost and leave mold!
Deep mulch is key to soil health...Good job.
Excellent 👍🙏, thank you for always sharing ideas!!!
I love this idea!! And perfect timing too!!!
When the video started I said "leaves"! Have to check my IQ :)
But seriously, I've been mulching my flower bed in the front yard with leaves that fall from the tree in the street. I'm always short on compost and this works great even though considering it's from the street and it's probably not the cleanest but good enough for the flowers.
I've been using whole leaves around my perennials for years with no problems with matting. I basically just rake the leaves off the grass and dump them in perennial beds over the winter. For sure agree about chopping them up for annuals though.
Love your channel James. I’ll have to admit. I have watched less, this year than last year. Reason being, you are very informative. The information you give sticks In the head. I’m still thinking of a food forest in the future.! I always think of things that you hav said when I’m in the said forest and imaging what I want to do. Thank you James progioni
Great video, as always James!
I just wanted to add an extra tip to everyone: you can also make leaf mold for other areas of your yard too. It's a great additive around trees, shrubs & flower beds. It improves the soil structure Everywhere. That's why forests floors are the 'super soils' of nature. Leaves are not Just for the food gardens. So if you have a large yard with more leaves than you need for your food gardens or you collect more leaves than you need, make leaf mold. It's easy (just chop, pile, keep damp), you can have beautiful leaf mold in 1-2 years the first time , then if you continue this, you'll have it every year. It's as fantastic as compost in it's own way. There's no 'nutritional' benefit to the soil, but healthy soil structure is as beneficial as composting.
Would you recommend using leaves as a mulch over winter to try insulate soil some and keep it alive over winter. Here in michigan trying to decide what to do with all my soil in beds over winter
love your videos, James! thanks for all that you share! And Tuck rocks too!
The only thing with leaves is how can you ensure that the leaves are disease free? And what percentage of infected leaves would be considered ok when mulching.
Great video as always James.
I know this is quite old, and I am not a pro at gardening, but to my knowledge there is no way to ensure leaves are disease free. In the terrarium hobby, people who add leaves as compost in their terrarium will literally put leaves in the oven to kill anything on them (fungus, disease, pesky insects), but this would be extremely tedious with the amount of leaves you would need for a large amount of compost. For a small garden though, it could work.
@@jsedge2473 thanks for the reply. Appreciate it 👍
James,if you'd like an even smaller and more uniform mastication of the leaves,draw your mower over the leaves backwards.Give it a try this autumn.I really enjoy your channel, thanks, your Pennsylvania neighbor.
try a black and decker leaf vacuum, it shreds them up super good as you pick the leafs up.
This is fabulous! I can’t wait to see all your videos!
I use both to but process my leaves in the fall to help with starting the breakdown process. In summer I use triple shredded hardwood mulch. So that way it's broken down by the next spring.
Very informative! I love how fast you speak.....lol....So many youtube videos put me to sleep while waiting for their info. Cant wait to view your other videos!
I used straw this year and it was full of seeds. I guess seed heads got sucked up into the binder. First time straw has done this to me, but I had some kind of grain coming up all summer. Also, I love clean grass clippings, they turn brown quick and get "sucked" into the soil by worms fast. Also very free. :)
Thanks for your video.
Yes, leaves! We use a vacuum machine that shreds the leaves in what is similar to a lawn mower and has a large bag on the back of the machine. Take the bag off and spread the chopped leaves around where desired. We used leaves here in our desert garden this past year - have a few deciduous trees here.
I love layering mulches in the fall around my fall crops or on bare beds - compost, straw, and leaves, and sometimes wood chips where I know I’ll be planting hardy plants and large seeds, but I’ve been mostly using wood chips in my walkways. By the way, you can find safe hay and also use the mower to chop it up for easy spreading.
For some small potted plants outdoors I like to mulch with spent coffee grounds. The rollie pollies love it.
My city processes the leaves for us and leaves them at local parks! Its amazing, and free. This is going to be my first year trying it on my annuals, im excited
I got a leaf blower/vacuum years ago. As the leaves are sucked in , they are chopped into fairly small pieces. I use it for mulch or compost.
Good idea. Leaves are the best. I use maple and oak and put 4 ft of leaves as deep litter for my chickens to shred them up and then also make rough compost using mostly leaves. it makes a nice black partially composted mulch. a perfect compost mulch hybrid. Just starting to reap the rewards after about 7 years of top dressing and at the most fork aerating
Peppers are naturally perennials, but annualize in colder climates via their seed. That’s why they get that woodier stem. So it makes sense that you can treat them as a perennial later on…they are!
Do you have any ideas on processing wood chips into smaller sizes like between wood chips and sawdust?
You can also use your leaf vacuum/blower for a finer mulch
Yes wonderful ideas! Your so cool! Love learning from your videos! Thank you! Ps your dog is absolutely the most adorable dog that’s saying a lot sense I have some!
Appreciate your time James thank you♥️♥️🙏🙏🌾💪🙌✌👋🌱👩🌾 hiiii tuck ♥️♥️♥️😘😘😘
My wife tried to copy your intro motion where you stick your hand in the air while yelling "What's going on?" She hit her hand on the table but she's ok. I like using leaf mulch. We screen ours with 1 inch soil screen after grinding it so the mulch this is applied looks uniform.
You can also use a large garbage can and use a weed wacker in the can to dice up the leaves
(Hello, cute doggie!)
Getting a shredder is a great idea, if you live in an apartment, like I do, and someone mows the lawn so I don't have access to that process. I do have access to leaves, but no lawn mower - again - shredder - a great idea!
A Gardener is a NATURAL genius!
Thank you. I have big trees so I collect them with my lawnmower like you showed. My dilemma is that inevitably I will end up with some grass clippings? Is that okay? Also I dump all of that in the back of the yard. Should I dig it up and bag it till I need it. Sorry for the silly question.
I have too many leaves to store them bagged. I would never be able to use them all for mulching purposes, so I need to compost them for reduction. A moderate amount of grass will actually facilitate composting. Too much though and it will go anaerobic and stink. I leave mine open to the elements and turn periodically to aerate. It takes several months under the right conditions.
He is collecting other peoples leaves where he doesnt know what herbicides etc they may have put on their grass. Your own grass is clean presumeably so is excellent mulch in itself. He is collecting it in bags & then he chops it up and uses it in Spring. No reason at all not to chop up and use in the Fall when you collect them. But he is also saying if a fair amount of grass is mixed in and the leaves are stored, it will rot down and likely make the leaves soggy and hard to chop up.
Thank you am fairly new to this and every year I learn something new. 🙃
Been my experience over the years that when I heavily mulch with leaves in the fall and move them back in the spring to plant seeds in the soil or even seedlings, they do not sprout or do well that year. I am sure that is because fresh leaves have toxins in them that keep weeds from growing under the trees. Now I use leaves as a mulch only after they have set in a pile for a season.
as a note: many of the state parks and city parks do not permit pesticides (check first) and will allow you to gather the cut/mown grass after they go around and trim.
ALWAYS ASK FIRST.
Fantastic idea James. Temps must be getting lower there.