Re: fall clean up
- Subject: Re: fall clean up
- From: M* T*
- Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2001 19:20:42 -0400
Hmmm....Marilyn wonder if you could dig a hole and pile those needles
and just keep it wet and would they eventually rot at all? Have you
ever tried adding them to your compost? They are majestic trees,
Douglas firs, but I can certainly empathize about debris and widow
makers!
IMO, by the time any organic material rots down, the pH is pretty
near neutral - oak leaves included. I won't swear to pine needles as
I only have a couple and their needles sorta get lost in the
Pachysandra so are never collected. I add oak leaves (and all other
leaves) to my compost all the time and my compost tends to be so near
neutral that I have to add peat or pine bark fines to it if I don't
want ericaceous plants to exhibit chlorosis when I use it for potting
soil. Same with the lovely leaf mold I make out of those
leaves...pretty durn near neutral.
As for exercise...I generally start dealing with leaves early
November, by which time most of them are down. Since that's the end
of garden season outside for me, I figure it's giving me my last bit
of good exercise before I get glued to my computer chair for the
winter...er, unless we have snow, which I then get to shovel and
blow:-)
Marge Talt, zone 7 Maryland
mtalt@clark.net
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> From: Marilyn Dube <mygarden@easystreet.com>
>
> Marge, Claire & all the leaf rakers out there, (and think of the
exercise
> we are getting!)
>
> At least when you are dealing with leaves from deciduous trees,
the leaves
> will compost and make beautiful leaf mold. I have 6 giant Douglas
Fir trees
> on my 80'x125' city lot that drop cones, twigs, needles, branches,
and
> "widow makers" all the year around (every time the wind blows) -
and none
> of it composts. Yes one can chip the branches if one has a very
stout gas
> powered chipper ( (I don't), but the little stuff goes right
through a
> chipper and comes out the other end looking just the same. One
would think
> the needles would make a wonderful compost - wrong. They are
covered with a
> resin that prevents them from decomposing. And they are too small
to use as
> mulch like one can do with pine needles.
> One positive thing is that I save small branches with green
needles that
> come down in the fall and use them to make little "winter teepees"
over
> perennials that benefit from some dead air space. Either to
increase frost
> protection for marginally hardy plants (Hebes & Phormiums come to
mind) or
> to shed excess water away from the root zone of perennials that
will rot
> during our heavy winter rains (Penstemons & Salvias). Also, if one
is
> crafty, an evergreen wreath can be made with the small branches.
> A second good thing is the amount of wildlife that the trees
support - And I
> don't need air conditioning.
> By the way, people around here seem to think that oak leaves are
way too
> acidic to make good compost. Does anyone agree with that? I think
the pH
> could be adjusted with dolomite lime - yes? I have to go to a
nearby city
> park and rake leaves to bring home for my compost heap! I don't
get enough
> leaves from my 2 deciduous trees (magnolia & flowering cherry) to
make great
> compost.
>
> We are having the best fall color here that we have had in several
years.
> Hope it is colorful where you are too, Marilyn
> Marilyn Dube'
> Natural Designs Nursery
> Portland, Oregon
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