So, you’ve got 27 bags of leaves. What’re you going to do? For openers, DON’T send them to the dump. They don’t need them. Why not do you and Mother Nature a favor and recycle them? That means put them back in or on the ground where they came from. It’s not easy, but it’s very rewarding.
First, collect them some way—rake, bag them with the mower, or hire a neighbor kid to rake them. Next, cut them into smaller pieces—either with the mower by going over them 2-3 times or run them through a shredder. If you can’t do this, don’t worry about it. It’ll just take a little longer.
Next you need a pen. I use fence wire…the kind with the 2” x 4” squares. I cut a piece about 12-15’ long and leave the horizontal “fingers” on the piece I cut off. Bend these fingers back on the fence like hooks. Set the wire in a circle and hook it together to make a pen.
You don’t have to use wire. You can use anything for an enclosure—concrete blocks, timbers, railroad ties, pallets—anything at least 3’ x 3’ x 3’.
Put in about a 6” layer of leaves, add a little garden soil to it (double handful) and then water it until the whole layer is wet. Add another 6” and a little soil and water it again. Keep doing this until the pen is full.
The pile will heat up by the next day and stay about 140-150F for about 10-12 days. When it cools down (stick your hand in it to see), open the pen, lift it off and set it up right next to the pile. Take a fork or spade and turn the pile into the pen again. This mixes is up and aerates it. Water it again every 6” or so. Not sopping wet, just moist.
Let it heat up and turn it again…and then one more time. After the third turning (about 40-50 days,) you’ve got yourself some compost. Use it to loosen and add micronutrients to the soil anywhere in your lawn or garden. It’ll take a few more turnings if you didn’t shred them.
If you want to learn how to make compost even faster, let me know.
Watch for aphids—sometimes called plant lice—on flowering plants. They’re only about 1/16 inch long can be almost any color between white and black. Every garden has a few aphids and can tolerate quite a few, but when they come in large numbers, something has to be done.
The easiest way to get rid of them is to just spray them off with a strong jet from the garden hose. They’re a soft-bodied critter and the blast will kill them…but be forewarned, there are lots of eggs in the soil and the aphids will be back in a day or two.
Another way is to bring in some lady bugs; they LOVE aphids (must taste kind of like peanuts or potato chips or something.) If you see ants running up and down the stems of your flowering plants, they are probably farming the aphids; the ants like the honeydew exuded by the aphids. You don’t need to use any kind of bug spray but if you do, be sure to follow the directions for aphids. They are very easy to eradicate, but they’ll probably come back. Insecticidal soap is effective, but the garden hose is probably the best way and safest way.
Seeds vs. transplants
How do you know which to use? It depends on the plant and/or your time limitations. If you plant seeds, it will take about 3-6 weeks to get to the stage of transplants you buy. It’s a matter of time, so it’s your choice, really.
If you decide to buy transplants, get nice, green, healthy-looking ones. If it’s a flowering plant, get one with buds, not flowers. Don’t buy runts thinking that you’re gonna save them from a terrible fate. Mother Nature didn’t intend for all of them to make it in the first place. Carefully pull the plant from the container (place the plant between your fingers, turn the pot upside down and push on the bottom) to be sure that it has almost white roots and lots of them. If they’re not white, put it back and look at another one. You won’t hurt the plants.
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