Leave the Leaves

Last September, I wrote a blog post titled "To till, or not to till...I think I'll try not to."  One of the pledges I made was:

I also pledge to start raking up the leaves in my yard every fall and putting them on the garden.

And last fall, with RAF's help, I did get the leaves raked.  Some went in the compost bins, and some were left on the little east garden in an effort to help improve that soil.  I was feeling pretty good about the leaf thing.  I was just waiting for the leaves to drop off the trees this fall so I could get busy raking.

Now I had already started growing some native plants in my flower beds (remember "The Flowerbed to Hide the Ugly Stmpe?") and while browsing channels on YouTube looking for information about native plants, I discovered some really interesting ones, including "Native Plant Channel."  That's where I first learned about Doug Tallamy.

Dr. Tallamy's interview with Lourdes (host of Native Plant Channel) emphasized why planting natives is so critical.  And because I watched that interview, other videos with Dr. Tallamy started popping up in my recommended video feed.  In this interview with "Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour," he talks about how important leaf litter is to soil health.

  

Maybe I didn't need to be raking up the leaves after all.  😕

I found myself torn between wanting the leaves for my garden and compost, and wanting to leave them for the insects and soil invertebrates.

Then I watched a video from the Master Gardeners of Northern Virginia about native trees.  The speaker talked about the awful things we do to our trees; the importance of leaving the leaves; how to properly mulch; and more.

The video left me feeling really sad and guilty about my beautiful trees.  I actually had some of them topped back in 2020, because I was afraid they would fall on the house.  I guess that's really bad for trees, and I just hope it doesn't kill the old black walnut tree. 

The willow oak in the front yard is a beautiful tree in spite of being hit by a catalpa tree that was blown over in a storm back in 2019.  But I've often wondered how it even survives when the soil underneath it looks so dry and compacted all the time.  Grass doesn't grow under the tree...it's just bare hard dirt with some moss on it.

And it's the same way with the red maples and the giant red oak out by the road.  (I plan to write a post about that oak in the coming days.)  The dirt under all of them is so hard and compacted - it doesn't look like the water would soak in much at all.

Maybe I'm wrong about everything with these trees.  Wouldn't be the first time I've been wrong about things, and it most certainly won't be the last.  But what would happen if, instead of trying to grow lawn under the trees, we put a big ring of leave mulch around the trees?  What if I just leave their leaves to cover that bare soil, and see what happens?

So that's what I've decided to do.  This year, I'm going to leave the leaves.

One of the challenges I've already come up against is that without something to help catch them and hold them in place, the leaves just blow away.  We've had very strong winds the past few days, and lots of them have already blown into the field.  But this afternoon I raked up enough leaves to cover the dirt almost out to the drip line of the willow oak with about two or three inches.  And for now, I've carried some old tree limbs and rotted bits of log over to the tree and made a half-circle around it to try to contain those leaves.

If there were some groundcover under the trees that would help.  I'll need to do some research to see what might grow under them, and then slowly start putting in some plantings.  I plan to start with violets and native strawberries under the willow oak.  For the red oak, there's a much larger area to cover, so I think I'll put down some cardboard as sheet mulch in a few spots, then plant some native shrubs like spicebush (Lindera benzoin) and blackhaw (Viburnum prunifolium).  I guess that plan will hinge on how whether or not my cuttings root! 

What I do NOT want to happen is for the area to be taken over by privet and Japanese honeysuckle again.  We just got rid of a big patch of that year before last, and I don't want to ever let it get started in the yard again!

Poor RAF does love his lawn, and I hope he won't mind this change too much.  I think so long as I stay away from the beautiful Zoysia grass, he'll be ok with it.  I hope so, anyway.

November 10, 2022 Gardening Journal

A while back, I removed the cage from my largest American Hazelnut tree (Corylus americana) thinking that since we hadn't had any issues with deer since putting up part of our new fence, it could be "free."  It had one main shoot that is about 3' tall, and two small shoots that had put up late this summer after the rain returned.  They were about 8" and 12" tall.

One of two American Hazelnut trees (Corylus americana) that I ordered from the Arbor Day Foundation.

Night before last the rabbits ate the two new shoots that had come up, but thankfully left the main shoot.  I put the cage back around the little tree, so once again, it's obscured from view by the wire.

The second, much smaller tree had struggled to get going. I actually thought it was dead.  But it finally put up one shoot, and over the summer, with lots of babying (water, mulch and shade) it had grown to about 18" tall.

I didn't have another cage for it, but in hindsight, I should have tried to find something.  Last night, the rabbits ate it, leaving only about 1" of stem.  I think (hope) it will put back out in the spring, but <insert swearwords here> that made me so mad!!!

And I was even more angry when I saw the little Eastern Redbud tree (Cercis canadensis) I had transplanted from the garden into the back yard last week.  It was about 12" tall.  Now it's a 4" stub.

I don't think there's any way we can reinforce the new fence in such a way that we could keep the rabbits out.  So I think my best bet is going to be to get some of the 1" x 2" welded wire and build cages...lots of cages.

November 7, 2022 Gardening Journal

Well, the rabbits are doing it to me again.  My snow peas looked so pretty yesterday when I walked Mo around the yard.  Today there is only about 4" of stem left on every one of them.

They've done the same thing to my sugar snap peas, and have started in on the Kale.  

The plants are all "protected" by 2" x 4" welded wire cages and/or chicken wire.  Didn't matter.  

If the rabbits ate the plants they destroy, that wouldn't be so bad. But they don't eat them.  They just chew the pea stems in two and let the top drop to the ground.  The kale leaves are just left lying on the ground around the plants.

So it looks like I'm going to have to buy some wire like that which is around the dogwood tree.  It's 1" x 2" welded wire so they can't get through that.  They're NOT going to win, dang it all!

Regarding the cuttings.  I not sure many, if any, of them are going to make it.  They're already getting covered with mold.  The only exception might be the fig cuttings.  So far they still look Ok.  I went ahead and took the newest cuttings out of their plastic bags.  That is just a perfect environment for mold.  

So maybe I'm just being a pessimist today, but the cutting experiment that I was so excited about looks like yet another failure.  Maybe in January I'll post all happy saying how every one of the little twigs has developed roots.  But I doubt it.

November 6, 2022 Gardening Journal

Today was a very nice day, perfect for doing some fall cleanup chores.

First on the list, drain the IBC Tote, then move it to the north wall of the carport slab.  Once moved, I connected it to the three 55 gallon barrels and transferred about 60 gallons of water back into the tank.  Much better setup than before.

Next, time to put some of the composted cow manure onto the garden.  I raked back the straw, dumped one cart load onto the cardboard (which has almost rotted away) and then pulled the straw back over the compost.  I still need to put some wood chips down on my walking rows, and might want to put some boards around the compost.

Next, fix the mulch around the blackberry plants.  I put  composted cow manure around the plants, and covered that with cardboard/newspapers.  But this time I also put some cardboard down in the area between them.  I used most of my last remaining bale of straw to cover the cardboard.   Still have one plant to mulch around, and I still need to figure out what I'm going to do to get the canes up off the ground.

Finally, I put a layer of composted cow manure around the apple trees, covered that with cardboard/newspaper/packing paper, and topped that off with a thick layer of straw.

And in spite of the hot dry summer we had, the pecan tree has started dropping pecans!  I'm not sure how well they are filled out, but I've picked up a large coffee can full.  What a nice surprise!

When you lose sight of what matters....

I went for a walk yesterday with my little dog Mo.  He bounced on through the field ahead of me, and scared some blue birds that were in the grass.  I watched as they flew off to the trees...all except for one.  He veered off to the north, then turned back toward the tree, headed straight for me.  Instinctively, I pulled back, thinking I was about to be hit.  

But he didn't crash into me.  Instead, he landed on my hand.

I'm not sure who was more surprised.  Our eyes locked together.  I wonder what was going through his mind.  I was marveling at the intense blue of his feathers and the intricate pattern they made across his brow and down his wings.  The feeling was something I can't describe.  Maybe it was joy?  

I know it couldn't have been more than a couple of seconds.  I heard myself exclaim out loud, "Oh! You are so beautiful!" My coarse sounding voice broke the spell.  He launched himself off my hand to join his little flock in the nearby tree.

Male Eastern Bluebird (Sialia sialis), observed on March 29, 2015.