Hi neighbors!

I had several responses when I asked for help collecting leaves this past fall.

Some were educational ~ like leaving the leaves to help the butterflies. There are mounds of leaves, as there have been for years, just maybe bigger, under many shrubs. Good to know they serve a purpose :)

I bought a mulcher, thinking that I could grind up leaves to put around my trees on the bare spots in the buffalo grass ~ to help keep the ground warm. I returned that when I learned it would be one handful at a time (I have 14 deciduous trees). Then I thought it would be good to get a blower that also sucks the leaves up and mulches them.

THEN I got this informative email/admittedly advertisement from VegoGarden about using leaves around trees. I'm thinking that those just left in place are fine, because they may not compact. But grinding up large piles of leaves and distributing them around trees can have a negative impact!

Here's the link for anyone interested ~ it also has much more info about types of mulch and how to properly use each. (The info on trees is a ways down):

https://vegogarden.com/blogs/academy/exploring-the-benefits-of-mulch-protect-your-garden-this-winter

Wishing us all the best in our efforts to care for our homes and yards,

Karen