Bags of leaves are great resources
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Editor,
It’s leaf gathering time. As I pour out 40 bags of leaves from the neighborhood around my perennials, raspberries, and reconstructed beds, prepped and planted with garlic for spring, I smile at each round medallion of gold: as food and comfort for my thriving worm and micro biome life of the soil. Soil life will eat this by summer next year, feeding the roots of what will come, maintaining moisture, The quack grass will be stifled while still maintaining the fungi in its roots for the ecology. The soil is protected from the ravages of the freeze, guaranteeing me an earlier spring planting. I diverted large four truckloads of well-packed leaf bags and their life from the landfill. I see those trash bags awaiting the city waste pick-up as free fertilizer. I have done this now four years in a row, and my soil is amazing. Places that used to be compacted are black and lofty, full of fungi and worms. I usually put dump truck loads of free wood chips from the power company over the leaves on beds and paths to keep them from blowing and looking scruffy. I move them aside in the spring where I will plant seeds or starts. I cherish the diversity of tree smells and essences for this ecology, I seek out cottonwood, mmm ... Maple tree starts are a common weed in my garden. Abundance is mine. The neighbors smile and wave as their work becomes my joy, their waste is my resource. I don’t worry about the grasses, I just cover them. Those that make it through the layers of mulch pull out easily by hand in the spring. I rest with a great work out and know my beds will sleep well this winter. It’s ideal to mow the leaves to break them up for better rain infiltration, and be sure to collect from non-dog yards. Day one, more to gather this week ...
Kelly Ware
Polson
