Got the rest of the potatoes out and gave it its first till. In a week or so I'll put the bagger on the mower and mulch a bunch of leaves and till them in too. Does anyone else here put leaves in their garden?
I use them as mulch during the Summer. I've tilled them in in the past but I don't till much any more. I've raked them up in the Fall and burned them, put them in the compost and now pretty much just leave them although sometimes I rake them up and mulch the carrots for the Winter with the used ones. They're mostly oak leaves so they persist.
Yeah, I avoid the oak leaves and go for the maple and poplar. The point for me is to keep the organic matter flowing into the garden every year. I have some manure still left in the old barn from when we had cows but would like to save that as a last resort. I've put lots of it on in the past.
I will till some in every fall. We have sandy soil and it helps hold moisture. Soil has greatly improved over several years.
Looks nice. Nothing but mud here for weeks. Now it snowed. Tilling looks like it may have to wait till spring.
We put leaves ans other yard waste in the garden. Usually alky, wife just burns i then tills it in with lime. ???
As long as there isn't big clumps of them the fungi and invertebrates in the soil can have them in rather minuscule pieces by Spring. In theory, if you were to shred leaves in nice small pieces you could use them as fertilizer for the lawn. I have a shredder I used to do just this (oak leaves are tough) but leave them in a heap as compost. It would be full of huge worms and worm castings by Spring. I never bought fertilizer, just some lime.
I have compost bins for that. garden plants & leaves/ grass clippings mixed in. Get over 140°, cooks weed seeds. Make great compost
Years ago I drove a van and in the fall I'd come home every day with a van load of leaves that others had raked, thank you. All leaves went onto the garden. For sure if you put leaves or sawdust on the garden, give it extra lime! Leaves will break down nicely and we had no problems using them but have not done this for many years now. btw, we have sandy ground.
I put all the leaves into the garden. I have a Toro blower/vacuum w/metal impeller. It grinds them up real fine. Till in very nice.
Did the bagger thing today. Took probably a dozen trips to get this many leaves. Stayed away from the oak trees in the yard. And the final result. I'll till it again once in the spring just before planting. Love my Troy Bilt tiller. Had it around twenty five years now.
Great machines. I paid a big dollar for it but always wanted one since I was a kid. I heard they were bought out by one of the generic "make it all" companies like MTD. I don't know if they have the same quality now. I bought a spare one a few years ago but it needs a new engine and I just never got around to it so it sits in the garage until I can bother to do it.
I have a really old Horse tiller and a newer Pony. The Horse really is worth spending the extra $ on if you can do it.
Oh I'll definitely do it. If for nothing else just to have another quality tiller around to hand down to the kids. Older stuff is usually better stuff.
