leaf mold as mulch, how deep?

14 years ago

I inherited a pretty weedy community garden last year. Lots of mint and other perennial weeds. Did the best I could last year but now I can see that they are showing their heads again!

Our county has delivered a mountain of leaf mold (about 15 feet tall at least) to the community garden this winter. Now I look around and a lot of people use that as mulch and it seems to work for them. What do you think?? Mostly I need to get the path between my raised beds in control. I am thinking about putting down layers of newspaper and then a lot of leaf mold. How deep do you think it has to be? I don't mind weeding periodically with a hoe.

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Comments (14)

digdirt2
14 years ago
Makes a great mulch and an even better soil improver so suggest you use something else for your paths and use it for the soil. ;) As a mulch - 3-4" thick minimum, more if possible.

Dave
misterbaby
14 years ago
Hi, Ikea! I think

Digdirt is spot on. Use shredded bark or something else for your pathways, and mix in all the leaf mold you can get into your beds. It will make your growing medium outstanding. Also, using the mold for a path would not be wise, as the mold will quickly decompose and be muddy after a rain. Misterbaby.
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In my personal experience, chipped leaves are an incredible soil amendment. I like your idea of the layers because the leaf mulch will serve to protect the soil from the wood mulch. By the time the leaf mulch has decomposed or been stolen by earthworms, the wood mulch will probably harmless. Do you know if the wood mulch is aged? I've seen 'fresh' woody mulch at a nursery that was steaming because it was still actively decomposing. When it was applied under shrubbery that had lilies planted underneath, the lilies did not thrive. That same mulch was applied underneath tomato plants the plants struggled until I pulled the mulch away from the plant. Do I need to say that you don't want to till wood mulch into the soil unless you don't want something to grow there? Good luck! Paul
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jugglerguy: Either way the maple leaves around here aren't ready to use as mulch in spring. Shredded they take less room & do compost faster. Left whole whether in large wire bins or plastic bags rolled around now & then they're not ready until at least 2 years. Have you heard of chop & drop a term by Ann Lovejoy, a Pacific Northwest garden writer? As you cut back spent perennials just chop them up & drop in place as your bottom layer of mulch, then top those with the shredded leaves as you acquire them in the fall for your uniform look. This way you only move them once letting them compost in place. In spring you could lightly rake through them a bit to freshen up the beds at the time you've usually applied the leaves. Sometimes, I pile it on thicker in places especially with perennials that don't mind mulch over the crown & come spring can spread it out a bit more after I pull it back from the crowns. Slug bait is a must in my climate all year round! Maybe you want to try a longer lasting mulch such as arborist wood chips if you can get them delivered to you. They last much longer here than leaves & the combo works to enrich the soil. Sometimes, I mix up a batch of mulch to top off the beds to include used coffee grounds along with leaves & wood chips. Once they're spread on the soil & we've had a few rains you really can't tell what the dark stuff is there.
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In soms locales, how much can one expect a layer of leaves to be taken down by worms when temperatures are near the freezing mark. Any self-respecting worm will find the temperature up above downright too cold for his mucousy hide...and will want to find a hole...a deep one. Since temperature does influence how a thing decomposes, how much can one expect a pile of leaves to compost down between now and when the pile freezes solid. How many leaves does one expect to be there --piled up on the perennial beds, after any decent fall wind. AS many do suggest, a clean garden is a disease free garden. Leaves, as maybe having come down early....for what reason...are now lying on the lawn....and if the lawn has any diseases enshrined in the soil, that is surely now part of the leaves which someone suggests be put over our beds. A pile of leaves.....how much is a pile...how much should one expect to use in the fall and how much should one pick up. Leaves around strawberries....never heard that one...straw..yes...straw is very good to mulch strawberries. Leaves would the last thing I'd want to put around my strawberries. Leaves belong off the lawn....in the compost pile or in bags for later use as leaf mould.
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A couple of years ago while trying to figure out how to keep markers by my hosta (my idea where they should come up in spring NEVER was the same as where they really are) I was mentally multi-tasking. My winter mess of wire tomato cages was on my mind also. If you stack them they are difficult to seperate in spring. I came up with the idea of inverting a cage(tine side up) over each fading hosta and using fabric pins to hold it in place. Then instead of leaving a thick pile of leaves over the entire bed, once the ground was frozen I piled leaves a couple of feet deep inside the cages, which held the leaves in place. By spring they had broken down to about 6-8 inches of mulch and I knew where the hosta were. In the past I always raked tags away when cleaning up in spring. It worked, but did little to enhance the general soil in the bed. I now have each hosta marked with a rock/tag from the river that can't be raked away. Winter mulching really does help a hosta bed, but during the growing season my soil has been bare. I use a shuffle hoe to control new weed seedlings (which is probably why I never noticed hosta seedlings). I have had few slugs in the past but would like to try the shredded leaf-mold. I thought I had to let it break down over the winter and spread it in spring, so ken, you advice is very timely. Now I can use my compost bin as it is designed for, using just enough leaf shreds to generate and nice quantity of compost. Les
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ikea_gw
Original Author
14 years ago
If I have to use bark, I'd have to pay for a lot of them. This leaf mold is completely free... Does it really decompose fast?
homertherat
14 years ago
Leaf mold is valuable as compost... You wouldn't pave your paths with compost, would you? You can get wood chips from any tree removal company for free. They'll even dump it for you if they're near your location. They have to pay to dispose of it, so they'll be more than glad to help you out usually.
scarletdaisies
14 years ago
You can use old cardboard for a walkway, or layering newspapers regularly. If you layer the leaves regularly it might work on its own too, but a seed might fall into it and grow.
digdirt2
14 years ago
Can you swing a bale of straw (not hay) for the pathways? It works well for paths and doesn't decompose nearly as rapidly as leaf mold will. Cardboard also works exceptionally well - layer cardboard and then top it with the straw.

Dave
ikea_gw
Original Author
14 years ago
I do have a lot of moving boxes. If it is windy, will they get blown away?
Donna
14 years ago
Wet them down when you lay them and that will help reduce the wind movement. Another possibility is old carpet remnants/scraps. They make great "paving" for pathways.
glib
14 years ago
I prefer the old carpet myself for the paths. Everything else decomposes too fast. It depends also how long you want to keep these beds. For two years, wood chips in the paths will be fine. Leaf mold is an exceptional soil conditioner, but slugs will soon come a-calling. They will come whether you have an inch or 7, so go with 7. It will be gone by the end of the season anyway.
gardener1908
14 years ago
I agree, don't 'waste' the leaf mould on your paths. Last year I used cardboard on my paths inside my hoophouse and out in the 'field'. Even with wind, watering and walking, etc., it was stiil in good shape at the end of the season. I pulled it and put it in a pile and will use it again this year.
jonhughes
14 years ago
If it is free and unlimited why wouldn't it be the best idea for paths ....
Its free and unlimited ! !

It turns out to be a wonderful soil amendment...

As you walk on it and/or as it dissipates you simply keep adding more..

Its free....

Besides being free and awesome...what are the drawbacks..

Am I missing something here....it's free....right ???
ikea_gw
Original Author
14 years ago
jon, yeah it is completely free. I just need to move them into my plot from the other side of the community garden. I do plan on putting them in the beds as well.
jonhughes
14 years ago
ikea, you have a natural organic goldmine,it is onsite,and totally free, if it was me ....I would make 6" deep paths and toss that soil on the beds and fill the paths with leafs...
I would then top the beds with lots of leafs and some blood meal and bone meal and maybe some lime water it down and start planting in the spring,you won't have any weeds and even if there were a few,you could easily deal with them.
myfamilysfarm
14 years ago
I have had alot of leaves delivered to my property and am thinking about putting them on my garden. The leaves are from this last season, not decomposed. Should I wait a year before putting them on the garden or go ahead and use them. No walnut leaves, thank goodness.

leaf mold as mulch, how deep?

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digdirt2

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leaf mold as mulch, how deep?

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