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You can get double value from leaves by using them as mulch in your vegetable or flower garden during the summer, and then plow or rototill them into the soil the following fall. As a mulch, they conserve moisture and control weeds. When plowed into the ground, they improve soil as if you had used a compost'
As a mulch, leaves tend to blow easily. This problem can be eliminated, however, by making “clump mulch” for winter storage. Build a container from chicken wire or snow fence in which leaves can be packed and wet down as they are gathered.
Very little break down of leaves will occur unless nutrients or micro-organisms are added. Instead, the leaves will clump together in mats that are two to three inches thick. These materials can easily be laid around plants for mulch.
For those who prefer the appearance of finer mulch, you can buy a shredding machine that will reduce them to about 10 percent of their original volume. This finely chopped material makes an ideal mulch that also will decompose rapidly in a compost pile.
If a shredder is not available, run over the leaves with a rotary lawn mower. Spread the leaves in a long, low pile on a smooth drive and run over them several times. If they are dry and brittle, this procedure should reduce them to about 25 percent of their orginal volume.
Although you will derive greater benefits by using your leaves as mulch in a coarse or shredded form, you may need to compost them to reduce the volume to a manageable level. Compost is excellent material for the flower or vegetable garden, but it does involve additional work.
To make compost, assemble your
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