Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
You can also rake some of them into their own pile and moisten them to make leaf
mold. It can take a solid year to make a good leaf mold, but it is a beautiful mulch. It's
made largely by facultative anaerobic microbes, similar to the ones in beer and wine,
which is why it smells like yeast.
For most of us, too few leaves is the problem, and this is a design issue. If you find
yourself short on leaves, get some plants that produce a lot of leaves. I'm talking about
fast-growing annual or perennial plants that get big and provide a lot of leaves in the fall,
such as cardoon, rhubarb and ferns.
Now a bit about about oak leaves. I've never had a problem because oak leaves don't
break down quickly. I've always enjoyed that about them because it just means my mulch
stays around longer. And, they don't acidify the soil to any notable degree, but again, if
you have too many, don't force it. Walnut leaves, on the other hand, aren't the best mulch
because juglone, a plant toxin, does show up in the leaves and can cause some issues.
Seaweed is another incredible mulch that we often think of as leaves, although it's not
technically a plant. It's a great mulch for people living by the ocean. It often breaks down
very quickly, giving you another excuse to visit the beach. There are two main problems I
see with using seaweed. The first is that it may be important to leave most of it on the
beach, because it may be food for many organisms. The second is that there is actually a
worldwide shortage of kelp because it's been overharvested just like fish. It may be that
the kelp in your area is abundant, but overall, we're running out. This information is new
to me, but I'm starting to rethink my use of kelp.
