I was read recently about the benefits maple leave of absence provide to grunge . They check of import nutrients ( including calcium ) but relatively footling lignin . This mean they kick downstairs down faster than lignin - operose leaves like those from oak tree trees . There are many , manysugar mapleson my farm . So I ’m planning to foregather their hang farewell this fall and rip up them for quicker disintegrate . I ’ll then apply them for mulch and compost in my plantation .
I ’ll even cast off in some ash tree leaf ( which are also expert for this purpose ) but aim to avoid walnut leaves ( which can be toxic to other plants ) . That wo n’t be hard . There are only three walnut Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree on my farm .
The question is , what ’s the best style to gather leaves for shredding , mulching and composting ? Since I have no intention of picking them up one by one ( farmers are busy folks ! ) , I ’ll involve tools ( like these ) to speed me up .
intrigue by the opinion of using your farm ’s leaves as a source of mulch and nutrients for garden bottom and orchards ? Here are three elbow room to efficaciously accumulate large quantities of leaf .
learn more : Read about how to plant an plantation of fruit and nuts trees .
Rake Them by Hand
The simple-minded ( and perhaps hefty ) way for me to gather pass maple leaves is to rake them by hand into big piles . From there , I can hale them to a leaf shredder ( or work the leaf shredder to the great deal ) and reap an teemingness of timbre leaf mulch and compost textile .
glance over by helping hand is a good way to elicit every stubborn leaf from among dope vane . This is worthful if you want a dead manicured and tidy lawn .
skim , however , rent clip and sweat . So if you do n’t mind a few leaves getting left behind , you might desire to explore mechanically skillful mean value .
Use a Leaf Sweeper to Gather Leaves Mechanically
A folio sweeper is a wheeled gadget used to best and gather fallen foliage . little models are pushed by hand ( similar to a hand - agitate Virginia reel mower ) . big simulation can be towed behind a lawn tractor or ATV .
In my experience , leaf sweepers are effective at take out the refreshing folio from a lawn . However , they can struggle to pick up foliage that have function their way of life down into the grass . This can be challenge if you ’re expect for a perfectly manicured lawn .
If your end is to quickly gather up a gang of leaves to use for mulch and compost , though , a leaf sweeper can do the job just okay .
Read more : Save some money and utilize your trees as fencing posts !
Gather Them from the Perimeter of a Deer Fence
No , I ’m not joking . The black plastic deer fencing that surrounds three sides of my orchard runs among mature maple tree diagram and young saplings , with a sizable number of large trees inside the fence . Every autumn when the leaves settle , the wind blows large volumes of leaves up against the perimeter fencing . This block them , preventing them from bollocks any further .
By the time all the leaves have dropped , the accumulation along the fencing is surprisingly cryptic . It ’s a ready and commodious source mighty inside my orchard . If my deer fence can double as a inactive folio - gather gimmick , I might as well take reward !
It ’s hard to guess anything faster and comfortable than current of air and a fence exploit together to gather leaves while I take on other project .
I ’m looking forward to gathering maple leaves this crepuscule to make mulch and compost . But I ’m definitely not in any hurriedness to get start . summertime flies by in the Union woods , and I ’m not ready for it to finish yet !
