Don’t throw away your leaves

Should we pick up the leaves that fall from our trees?

It’s not always necessary! First of all, it depends on where they fall. There are places where it is imperative to pick them up:
· On the road, when wet, they become dangerous because they are slippery.
· On lawns and on certain herbaceous crops which continue to grow in winter (perennials, vegetables such as sweet potatoes or radishes, turnips, etc.) because they obstruct light and promote rotting.
· Under the plane trees (for their leaves) because they are stored from one year to the next and can become shelters for voles in winter and young moles in summer.

In other cases there is generally no need to pick them up.

What to do with the leaves that we had to pick up?

They can all be valued but for some, there are some precautions to take.
Beech, oak and plane tree leaves which decompose badly or very slowly, chestnut which contains too many tannins. In small quantities they can be integrated with others by grinding them.
To do this, simply put them on not too high windrows and pass the mower over them. If it has a collection box, it must be emptied often, but this is also an advantage because they are picked up at the same time.

For the vast majority there are an interesting number of opportunities before thinking about the waste disposal center:

1. The soil # of the compost,
Do not confuse compost with potting soil. Compost is a mixture of fermented or fermenting organic waste. There are as many variations of compost content as there are bins or compost heaps. On the other hand, the leaf molds can vary slightly depending on the species collected, but at the end of fermentation there is little variability (the analyzes give quite similar results and we can therefore speak of leaf mold in the singular).
It is quite simple to produce leaf mold. Simply pile the leaves in a corner, taking care to put a plastic film or geotextile underneath to prevent tree roots from colonizing the pile. Depending on the types of leaves collected, decomposition can take place in 1 to 2 years.
Be careful, however, not to put only very fast decomposing leaves like those of the willow because they would give too colloidal soil.

2. Mulching,
The leaves are good insulators, they can be used in winter to protect chilly plants from the aggressions of the cold, but be careful of rodents for whom they form both a shelter and a pantry.
In summer they can also be used to mulch crops, particularly to cover a layer of manure with little straw (cattle) in order to prevent the manure from drying out.

3. Stoves,
It is an ancient practice of filling in the paths between cement beds or wooden boxes in which plants are overwintered or grown. The trunks being covered with frames. They ferment slowly, releasing a little heat.
They can also be combined with manure to form warm beds on which to hasten crops in late winter or spring.

4. Spring storage.
If you want to produce a little heat with your leaves later in the season, simply store them in a tidy and sufficiently compacted heap to limit fermentation sheltered from the rain by covering them or putting them under a shelter. In spring, you will be able to recover them in the same state as in autumn with still enough nitrogen and sugar to restart fermentation with a little water and air.

5. A little extra:
In the spring you can use the leaves at the bottom of the seed boxes as drainage, there is often a lot of root hair in these leaves.

What to do with leaves falling from diseased trees?

With the exception of the leaves of fruit trees which can carry many diseases, they do not really present any risks.
For fruit trees, it is advisable to put them in the compost where a phenomenon, still relatively unknown, called “suppressive effect”, seems to develop micro-organisms antagonistic to parasites which reduce the risk of recontamination. However, it is advisable not to use garden compost as a contribution to the base of fruit trees.

Ask all your questions during the gardening program on Sunday morning on France bleu Isère from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. by calling 04 76 46 45 45.