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ot-adding fall leaves to the garden

R

Rkh

Member
Does adding fall leaves to the garden add acidity to the soil? I add a lot of leaves from my own yard & my neighbors lawn. I cultivate & till in the spring.
 
Years ago, I built up a garden at a previous home. I spread urea on top of the leaves and tilled them in before winter. It took a few years to build it up, since the leaves did not add much volume. I would have some farmer near you run a soil test and see if you also need some lime. Hope this helps.
 
I've always added leafs to garden, about 1 ft thick. In the spring, I use a rock rake and put all the leafs in a pile in garden, cover pile with dirt and that the hill for pickles.

Always add a little lime to sweeten up soil.

Sometimes put leafs and grasss in mulch pile, along with horse poo, sawdust, lime, and hay horses put on ground.

Makes great potting soil.
 
A guy at church put leaves on his garden last fall--lots of oak. It took several trips with a rototiller to get them worked in. If you add them, make sure you get them worked in in the fall.

Larry
 
The acidity part, I honestly cannot say. However I do know that leaves are good for the soil. As someone mentioned, may need to add a little lime, but then, most soil needs lime anyway. If you don't have a leaf shredder, you can run a mower over them and grind them, they will decompose much faster.
 
Some type leaves might change ph depending on several things like the soil which tree stands. I don't believe they would chenge ph enough to correct high ph conditions. Rather than flying by the seat of your pants,summit a sample so you know what if anything needs to be corrected. Adding leaves will improve the soil however.
 
I spread lots of oak and maple leaves on my garden. It shades weeds, holds moisture and adds organic matter. I wouldn't use black walnut leaves however. The downside would be to keep soil wet when you need to work it. I wait til my plants are up.
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Its almost impossible to till leaves in garden before fall coms here In pa. Usually the garden gets to wet to till so I wait till spring.
 
Recall I read somewhere that oak leaves had a small amount of tannic acid and they recommended not putting them on a garden. Not sure about black walnut leaves and possibly black cherry, otherwise they are good.
 
Ever tried composting them first? Need some green like grass clippings or some kind of nitrogen mix in to break them down quicker.
 
Yes, leaves are good, any organic matter is good. There is no "bad" stuff of that type you can put on a garden. You just have to adjust for what you use. Leaves, grass clippings, ground up bark, eve sawdust can do you land good. You might have to adjust for what you use though, bark or sawdust is going to require more nitrogen to break it down than leaves of grass clippings. You can always compost organic matter and add it when it's broken down. It's all going to do good.

If you get a chance, find an old copy of "Rodales Complete book of Composting", dates from the 50's. Good stuff in there on just about anything you can think of. The short story is anything organic will break down and do the soil good. It's all manure!
 
I forgot to tell you, till your garden before you appply leafs. Come string the ground will be broken up after the frost leaves it. Then just pull leafs back, no tilling required and plant. Leave the leafs for weed control.

BE CAREFUL. With leafs on ground, no heat will leave and a light frost will kill plants. So either plant late, or cover up plants.

After getting a post hole digger, I don't even till, just clean up garden with backhoe in fall and apply a foot of leafs. Make 12 inch diameter holes in spring, apply horse poo, lime, and leave a small hole to act as a water well. I only apply water to plants, not the dirt between plants.

Works well for me.
George
 
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