For years I quietly cursed my neighbor while I picked up 50-60 bags of leaves that fell from his trees into my driveway alone. The kids trick-or-treating at my house waded through six to eight inches of leaves on their way to my front door. They were so deep I used a snow shovel instead of a rake to round them up. Thanks to your video I realized what was once a problem is now a blessing. Thanks for sharing.

It's always astounded me that people take this gift, encase it in plastic & pay to get rid of it. Worse is those who feel they MUST convert this into smoke & flying embers, like it's a right of autumn! Thanks for giving the leaves the credit they deserve!

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

I couldn't agree more with you Katie - leaves are just about the single best free resource for the garden.

@thehillsidegardener3961

Жыл бұрын

Isn't it crazy? Our place is down a country road about a mile long and there is a designated garbage collection point where that road meets the main road, and all year round I am constantly finding big plastic sacks full of "weeds" piled up there, and this time of year of course, leaves. I am always fishing them out of the garbage and bringing them home like some crazy garbage bag man. I mean, this is literally going to go in LAND-FILL! It's insane to me that your trees spent a year producing all this fertility from the sun and from deep down in the soil, and you are going to remove it from your garden and bury it in plastic! I rescue it and tip it all out in my garden (the weeds I'll put in the compost usually), but now the neighbours have started to realise I want this stuff and are bringing it round to me, lol. One thing is that the leaves are often walnut leaves - there is this abiding concern that they are allelopathic and not good to have in the garden, so that's probably why they get thrown out, but like with most of these bits of "common wisdom" it's only partially true at best. I have been composting a bunch of walnut leaves for a year now, and hopefully by spring I am going to be able to plant something in them just to see once and for all whether there is any reason for concern.

@andreastyrberg7556

Жыл бұрын

And why burn something that just takes teh dark winter to decompose. so much unnecessary work

@thehillsidegardener3961

Жыл бұрын

@@andreastyrberg7556 The only thing I can think is that people don't have room to compost or they think it's unsightly. Some of my neighbours tip all the leaves down the bottom of their garden (pine needles too) in a kind of common woodland area, and these piles have built up over literally DECADES, and I can go and fill up a wheelbarrow with aged leave or pine needle compost whenever I want, it's crazy (I've asked their permission, though it's not on their land anyway!)

@theobserver9131

Жыл бұрын

It seems like our culture has a fetish for wrapping everything in plastic. We even wrap our plastic garbage in even more plastic. I think it's perverse and repulsive.

"They are called leaves, because you are supposed to leave em there!" One of my favorite quotes. Your garden looks great!

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

Thank you Tod!

@A3Kr0n

Жыл бұрын

If you leave them there they kill the grass.

@GrammyMidwife

Жыл бұрын

@@A3Kr0n that’s the point! More food and pollinator flowers and less lawn. Grass has been entirely overrated in the past century. It serves absolutely no purpose. 😂😂

@Wakwaw796

Жыл бұрын

Grass hater gang 😁

@jamesbailey1502

Жыл бұрын

If tilling them in creates a nitro sink, at what point could I till them in to incorporate them deeper into the soil?

Years ago, I had a large foundation hole from a 5-bay garage on my property. I couldn't afford to have it filled, so I instead asked the local landscapers to dump their leaves in it. Two years later, I had a huge garden of the most beautiful soil imaginable. Only the section with a concentration of oak leaves was behind and uncomposted. The yield from that garden was stupendous, with vegetables and flowers growing throughout. Three houses later, I still miss that garden!

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

Wow - that would have been amazing

@hermanhale9258

Ай бұрын

I have a big old oak. I like to shred the leaves with the mower set on two or one, to speed them along.

Thanks for the update! Your 2019 video is what got me started with composting. I've been doing it ever since and, like you, I've watched my concrete-hard, garbage, dirt turn into rich fertile soil. I've refused to use any kind of commercial fertilizer to prove to those I know that the scare tactics we've seen about nitrogen and fertilizer shortages are nothing more than false cries of a manufactured potential food shortage because of it. You 100% DO NOT NEED commercial fertilizer, that's a total lie, and I would even go as far as saying that commercial fertilizer actually harms your soil long term. Though, admittedly, I don't have any proof of that, as it's my hypothesis for current research.

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

Thank you John - I'm really happy to hear you're having great results like I am. And I fully agree that it shows you don't need to use synthetic fertilizer. Although I don't think modern, giant commercial agriculture could do it. So you would need a system change to make it work.

I started doing this after watching your videos. I had poor soil, not anymore. Thank you .👍🏻

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

Now this is the kind of comment I love to read! Excellent work Jon!

I often tell people that ask how to improve their soil to ‘think of a forest floor’. Nature knows how to do things best. Sometimes it’s as simple as dumping heaps of leaves! Creating compost/nutrient rich soil, providing water retention, warmth/ cooling to roots when needed and many other good things! You are a steward of your land, looking after it and making it productive/healthy. Well done!

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

Thank you! I could not agree more with what you said. Getting the soil fundamentals right, or should I say, giving it the right ingredients and time to work, has done wonders for my overall garden.

Great video!!! I'm a landscaper with a lot of perennial gardens. On trick I've used to install new gardens over lawn etc is to use clean cardboard. I get product dividers from pallets at Costco. While others use roundup, machinery, hard labor.... I make a sandwich (carbboard, leaves, mulch, manure, soil). I found you only need 3-4 inches on top of the cardboard. Then I plant divided perennials from other gardens on top. By spring they've rooted through the cardboard and the decomposing sod feeds it all summer. A fresh layer of quality mulch on top gives the bed a nice neat look as any other. The plants come in looking well established!! I think I'll try a veggie expansion the same way.

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

Hi - it sounds like you are doing it the right way! I always prefer a no chemical option when possible. I like your mulch sandwich method. I may have to try it sometime!

@Ajaxxgopw

Жыл бұрын

i love your metaphor: an open face biological sandwich. I'm going to steal that if you don't mind lol.

This needs to be seen by as many people as possible every update is just insane. Thank you for uploading.

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

Thank you for the kind words! I am happy you are enjoying the updates.

I was told to wrap the base of my zucchini plant with foil for several inches up, and then wrap tulle around that to keep the vine borers from laying their eggs. I did that this year and didn't have any borers on my plants.

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

I may have to try that next year Nana. I had read about that and was going to try it this year, but just got too busy.

One year I collected 140+ bags of leaves from my neighbors. That seemed a little obsessive, so now I do a more reasonable number, 100 or so. The results in my garden are stupendous, especially since in Texas we have "caliche," which looks a lot like road base. Few plants like it, and digging through it requires ingenuity and persistence.

@alfonsomunoz4424

Жыл бұрын

Caliche...a jackhammer works too.

@kathrynmettelka7216

Жыл бұрын

@@alfonsomunoz4424 You understand the problem.

@meuhey

Жыл бұрын

600 bags here XD

@kathrynmettelka7216

Жыл бұрын

@@meuhey You are a star. How is your garden?

@meuhey

Жыл бұрын

@@kathrynmettelka7216 lush, building a food forest, I've been obsessively mulching with wood chips or leaves for 9 years now, I am in a cold climate though but yea the results are amazing lets hope our neighbors will keep bagging their leaves 😁

Glad you have room to expand. I am out of spaces, haha. My favorite parts of using leaf mulch is that it is free and it suppresses weeds. After a hundred or so bags of leaves every year, our garden soil is very dark and easy to dig with a trowel.

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

The results are truly amazing - and it is so easy. It is shocking that more people don't do this.

Between you, and I am Organic Gardening, I learned how beneficial leaves are for the garden. It makes total sense given a forest floor, and how we can mimic that, and build our soil. I've been putting organic matter in different forms, on my gardens for decades, and I see the dark rich soil benefits every time. I have moved, so I started over 6 years ago where I am now. I have had problems with wood chips stunting growth for years after application, though they have their place, I'm done with wood chips. Last fall I applied approximately 1 foot of leaves over cardboard for my vegetable, and planned new pollinator garden in the fall. By spring I had a blank pallet to plant in. It's been such a great year for my new pollinator, and vegetable garden!!! I have beautiful dark rich soil in the vegetable garden where I've been stacking organic matter for 6 years now. And my new pollinator garden has a nice thin layer of dark soil. I'll be doing the same thing again this fall. I wish I could fast forward to spring, but there is so much to do between now and then. Thank you for your excellent content!!! You've helped me with so many things!

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

You are very welcome! I'm glad I could help you out, and it sounds like you are doing excellent work with all the information about leaves. I'm finding that as a general rule, I learn more by observing what naturally occurs, and what naturally grows rather than fighting nature or micromanaging a garden. It seems if you just get the 'big things' right, everything gets easier. And the biggest thing is to get organic matter into your soil.

@cprice1

Жыл бұрын

I've had the same issue with wood chips. There can be no mixing into the soil at all. Only on top. I mixed once and couldn't grow much for years.

@MrKevinStraub

Жыл бұрын

when layering wood chips on top of the soil, one must apply nitrogen fertilizer, because they consume nitrogen in the breakdown process.

@flowerpixel

Жыл бұрын

I'm using wood chips in my backyard And keeping my fingers crossed a layer of cardboard helps. In the areas with less intense weeds just leaves are amazing!

@eventhisidistaken

Жыл бұрын

Wood chips are good for a long horizon. For nearly 20 years, I had put various forms of bark mulch in the flower beds for weed control. I don't recall the first few years, but by the time I sold that house, you could plant *anything* in those flower beds and it would grow. I wouldn't recommend it for a vegetable garden...I'm really liking this leaf mulch idea.

Leaf mulch is my favourite thing to use in the garden! We moved in to our current property back in 2016, and both the front and back yards were almost entirely comprised of severely compacted and hydrophobic sandy soil that was so terrible even the weeds weren't willing to grow in it! Well, I only started gardening in 2020, but over the last 2 years I've managed to get the back yard into pretty decent shape by bringing in over 1500L of compost, broadforking the compacted sand, digging up all the limestone rocks, mixing the compost with our decompacted sand and using various nitrogen fixing cover crops as well as mulching using any organic matter I can get my hands on (winter grass, leaves, etc). However since I recently ran out of room for planting out the back, I decided to clear the overgrown mess out front that hadn't been used since we first moved in back in 2016. To my absolute delight, and due to 6 years' worth of leaves, sticks and grass breaking down, the hydrophobic sandy soil that was there when we first moved in had been completely covered by a 10cm (4 inch) layer of humus! Since learning about the power of leaves I haven't used our 'green waste' bin for anything other than broken thorny branches that don't decompose for years.

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

Wow - that is a lot of compost! Sounds like you've done a great job improving your soil. I share the same philosophy on soil improvement - add organic matter any way you can. It really is the best way. Nice work!

@fenrirgg

Жыл бұрын

I use thorny branches (cut in pieces of 15cm) from mezquites to keep dogs away of my front yard. It works but they decompose and I have to replace them every year, imagine if they were buried haha.

@shneershiishonest

Жыл бұрын

@@fenrirgg I was actually planning on doing something like that but using living 'deterrents' such as planting a bunch of bougainvillea and nettles at the front of my property, but local laws prohibit the placing/planting of things that 'potentially harmful' to the public or local animals.

I love that people get rid of grass clippings and leaves… it’s free soil improvement.. using grass clipping mulch I noticed so much improvements. Next year I’m gonna try this, and worm farming

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

Excellent - I believe you will be very happy with the results Jon!

My house had been a rental property for over 30 years and nobody amended the soil. When I dug my first garden, I used a chisel and hammer to break up the soil. Three years later, the soil is much healthier and softer due to leaves. Thanks for your video - I wish more people would save and use their leaves.

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

Wow Christina a chisel? Dang. Well, it is nice to hear that you have improved so much using what nature can provide. Happy gardening!

@christinamiller4741

Жыл бұрын

@@growitbuildit Ha Ha! Yes. I thought it was concrete at first. Just compacted clay-based soil.

I love these videos and really enjoy seeing the difference it’s made over the years. I started gathering my neighbors leaves last year and they were even bringing them over to me. I have a much smaller property in a more urban area but made some raised beds and started a backyard chicken flock.

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

That is awesome that they deliver them to you! I've got to load up the back of my car as much as I can.

@y0nd3r

Жыл бұрын

I would love to do that but we have an invasive cat problem where I'm at. Ferals and supposedly cared for cats, but the owners let them outside, unmonitored, to play in traffic.

@smas3256

Жыл бұрын

@@y0nd3r A few neighborhood cats came to our backyard and garden hunting moles. Big invasion we have this year.

@y0nd3r

Жыл бұрын

@@smas3256 I don't have a mole problem and if I did, I would not use cats to take care of them as that is an ineffective solution. Cats are an invasive, introduced species that causes far more harm than good in our environment and need to be culled.

I am very new to gardening, only had a patio garden last year, but planning for raised beds this year. This is by far the easiest gardening method I have ever seen and makes the most sense to me. Can wait to collect all our leaves and grass 😂

@growitbuildit

3 ай бұрын

It is absolutely the easiest way to build soil I've found!

YES! By all means, mulch your garden with leaves, grass clippings, even shredded paper. These are free organic resources that most folks want hauled away. Like you, I started out gardening in clay soil, but I continuously mulched throughout the growing season and through the fall. Over 19 years, I went from having no topsoil to having 8" throughout the garden. I even built two large leaf bins so I could stockpile excess fall leaves and used many of them to make more compost. Weed suppression and an increase in worm populations is of great benefit to the gardener. Good job - keep it up! :)

@growitbuildit

9 ай бұрын

Thank you Brian! That is inspiring to hear your results.

I can't remember why I subscribed to your channel, but I did like this video. Very helpful and well documented.

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

Thank you Paul - I'm glad you enjoyed it. If you try it, I hope you have the same success I have had.

Neat to see the changes across multiple years!

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

I agree - I just wish I had taken better pictures when I started. It is actually difficult to get good pictures of soil depth unless you dig decent sized holes.

What a fast transformation!!

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

It has been really quick Cass!

Thanks for that amazing update on leaf mulch.

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

You are very welcome Jordan. I'm very happy you found it helpful!

Your channel is really excellent. Packed full of concise information. Love the documentation. Thank you for sharing.

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

Thank you Ward! I'm glad you are enjoying my videos.

Thank you for continuing to show your research and progression. I dumped bags and bags of leaves in 1 area where I have berries growing. The results, my raspberry bushes grew to about 7 tall. I have already started filling my raised beds with fallen leaves. I’m excited to begin the collection process again. Thank you so much… very helpful!

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

You are very welcome Veronica - and I'm glad to hear you are having great success with your raspberries & leaves!

Great channel! You have me rethinking everything.

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

That's always a good sign! There are many ways to garden, and I just try to show how I do it for very little money but get great results. I'm glad you are enjoying it!

Thanks for reporting and updating this useful information.

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

You are very welcome Cody!

Nicely done on the continued progress reports!!! I live deep in the woods of northern Minnesota and leaves are a very bountiful resource. I’ve been composting them for the last five years but decided to directly apply a thick layer to my beds this year. I was curious about other peoples experience. Hands down your content is the best for presenting a case for leaf application! Thank you for sharing but also sticking with updates!!! I’ll be tuning in for more

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it. I hope you get great results like I have. Good luck!

Great video - the improvement is so nice and visual from several angles: growth, soil colour, easily workable. It is just a win-win-win, and what a paradise it must be for the soil food web. Don't grow plants, grow soil! I go to a nearby football field every fall and sweep up leaves from there. People look at me as if im crazy, but they have not seen my garden :D

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

Thank you Jakob! I'm happy you enjoyed it. And I completely understand you getting all those leaves!

@dsun1263

Жыл бұрын

Grow soil, nicely said. In China the peasants are called those who grow soil 種地的lol. Now I understood why.

Thank you for your quick response and amazing solution. I am so happy I found your site. Mary

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

You are very welcome Mary. I'm glad I could help you out.

I love seeing these updates ever year

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

Excellent - I'm glad you are enjoying them!

Done this for a few years now, another tip if you want to help speed up the leaf breakdown and make the nutrience accessible earlier is to cut some nettles, fill a bucket 3/4 full with water, place the nettles in the bucket and cover it for 2 weeks. It will smell stinky after this time but water the leaf mulch with it and you'll almost half the breakdown speed. I wouldn't water any winter greens with it just use it more as a winter feed for the bacteria to use up in the leaf breakdown over winter to release the nutrience in early spring. Keep going it's looking good, thanks for the vlog.

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

Thanks for the tip!

@miked8227

Жыл бұрын

I’d like to ask if you could explain to me what nettle is and where could I get it? I basically live in the woods and leaves are a huge part of my spring and fall cleanup. Usually I just dump them into the surrounding woods but would like to start taking advantage of them for my beds. Thanks

@trumpetingangel

Жыл бұрын

@@miked8227 You can look up nettle online to be able to find it. The easiest way to find it is to be "stung" by stinging nettle! It's a brief stinging, then brief itching. It's very nutritious cooked up as a green (the stinging disappears with cooking), and has a huge variety of minerals when broken down by soaking in water. You can also just throw nettle into your leaf pile and it will compost along with the leaves, leaving its minerals for the garden where you use the compost.

Wow love the updates and your garden looks great. I started my garden with cardboard with 10 inches or more of woodchips. Then put the raised beds on top. In the raised beds every year I mulch my grass and leaves together and pile them on the raised beds. My soil also looks better every year. I use my leaves for everything as a filler. On the bottom of the new raised beds that I put in this year and in my flower pots. Gardens never seem big enough and us gardeners are always expanding because that's just what we do lol. Absolutely just love all your video's!!

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

Thank you Nora! Sounds like you've got a very productive garden! I expanded our garden by about 75% this weekend. I was able to put about 1/2" of compost on top. Now, I will wait for leaves!

I am so happy see your Chanel tonight and will start doing tomorrow.Thank you for sharing.

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

Excellent Anh! Good luck on your leaf barrier!

Excellent video still learning about composting !!!!! Extremely informative helped me out alot.

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

Thank you Carla - I'm very happy you found it helpful. Good luck!

Great video! I haven't tried the leaf mulch yet (other than just leaving the leaves from the trees), but I did try a chipdrop. This was super educational.

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

Thank you - I'm glad you found it helpful. The leaves have done wonders for my garden.

I think I'm going to try to replicate your process on a smaller scale. The results look great.

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

It has been working for me for several years in a row AC. I hope you have the same success I am.

Thanks very much for this information. Appreciate your tremendous effort to put this together.👍

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

Thank you Norman! It does take quite a bit of filming! I'm glad you enjoyed it!

Great video series about adding leaf mulch to soil. Love seeing updates . You have inspired me .

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

Thank you Thomas - I hope you have the same success that I have had with leaves.

Nice work! I'm using grass clippings and leaves to make compost. I have raised beds because I wanted to grow food THIS year lol. I have the same type of soil you do. I plan on keeping with the beds since drainage is always such a problem with clay soil. But it is amazing to see how cool nature is. I also have neighbors who are cool with me taking their leaves every year. I have to get on that. Need to make all the nice bins out of hardware cloth.

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

Cool - I understand wanted the production you can get from raised beds. The real test for leaf mulch for me will come next year. I've expanded our garden, and am now looking at bare soil under my lawn. I have flipped the sod pads, so there will be a thin layer of composted grass. But other than that, I'm spreading a layer of compost, and then will apply as many leaves as I can.

This is my fourth year doing a leaf mulcher garden. It’s basically gardening in a compost pile that I never turn or mix in. I can chop and drop all the plants in the fall and then just cover with a foot of leaves in late October.

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

EXACTLY! That is basically what I do too.

I ran across your channel last night and I'm so happy I did. I have learned a lot in such a short time

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

Thank you Karen! I'm glad you found my channel too. Glad that you are finding my videos informative.

Brilliant video my friend, great results. One of the very best ways to improve your soil. Thanx for posting x.

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

Thank you Fergus - I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Beautiful. I have only two young trees, red oaks, but they dump ton of leaves so I built a compost bin for them last year. The bin was full last fall but now it’s only half fall and I’m getting ready to transfer the leave mulch to my raised beds and make space for new leaves.

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

Excellent Thomas - keep using those leaves!

@umiluv

Жыл бұрын

That's the way to do it! Sounds like you got a nice simple system that will give you the stuff you need in your garden.

@FrikInCasualMode

Жыл бұрын

For even better results, shred the leaves and mix in nitrogen-rich material. Grass clippings work really well.

I’d suggest making one pile of leaves and watering it periodically if dry. This will generate intense heat (I use a compost thermometer) which will aid in decomposition. You can spread it out after a couple months. A rototiller might help move that black soil deeper to help the roots.

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

Thanks you for the suggestions. I actually like the 'natural weed barrier' of the leaves. So that is why I don't compost or till them. But, my soil is quite rocky, so tilling would be risky as I may very well damage the tines.

Thank you for your videos. I have learned a lot. Now to apply it to my very poor clay soil . I am finally hopeful that I can have a garden! I really appreciate how you explain things.

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

Thank you for the kind words Fayito - hopefully you can have the same success as I have. Good luck!

Great update, thank you. Leaves are quickly becoming my favorite mulching medium.

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

Thank you - glad you found it helpful. I agree with regards to leaves.

Excellent video I have four giant oak trees on my quarter acre yard and that is a whole Lotta leaves to get rid of in a very small area this is exactly what I’m gonna do I’m kind of looking forward to them falling now

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

That's great Aaron - I hope you get the same results that I do!

@jayneteal-jeffery6283

Жыл бұрын

Oak leaves do take longer to decompose. Shredding will help. 😁

I do the same but put landscape fabric over the leaves during the winter. It seems to keep the leaves in place, help retain moisture, allows rain to get through, and prevents any winter weeds, etc.

@gregkillmeier8560

Жыл бұрын

I also chop the leaves up with the lawnmower before putting them on the bed.

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

I've found that the leaves tend to stay in place for me. But, they are bagged, which probably helps them stay interlocked better.

Awesome you cover everything I needed to know to fix my soil in zone 9

@growitbuildit

6 ай бұрын

I'm glad I could help you out! Good luck!

The transformation is so cool!

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

I think so too!

I think lawns need to be used for gardens instead of perfect lawns. Don't ever use chemicals. We use leaf compost & bark. Been gardening over 50 years. Just keep adding & it builds up to beautiful humus. We have clay & rocks. It's been a battle. Thank you for the encouragement. God bless.

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

You are very welcome Sandra. I couldn't agree more.

Autumn 🍂 leaves falling in 2022

I spent hours tilling my garden this year. It's about 7'x75'. The spot hasn't been used in at least 10-15 years so it was extremely difficult and I had to go over it several times. Luckily, I had help. I'm excited to start this process in the fall so I don't have to break my back. Thanks for this awesome info!

@growitbuildit

28 күн бұрын

You are very welcome! This really is the single best thing I've done to my soil.

Thank you for giving a detailed demonstration of the impressive improvements you've seen! I hope I get leaves from my neighbors this year. I really appreciate your videos and refer to them repeatedly. :-)

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

Thank you CG! I'm glad you are finding them helpful. Good luck finding some leaves. I've been known to pick them up bags of leaves that people put out for trash.

I love your documentation of everything. Its a great contribution to science if you ask me.

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

Thank you!

My husband and I always enjoy your videos. Lots of great information and inspiration.

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

Thank you so much Joy! I'm very happy you and your husband are enjoying them and finding them helpful.

Impressive soil improvements!

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

Thank you Corey

This is an excellent video! I will be committed this year to adding my leaves to the garden as mulch! Thanks for the inspiration!

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

Thank you Mama Louise - and good luck getting as many leaves as you can!

I'm so glad to see you still doing videos!!! Every other one I've watched has been from at least a year ago! I'm headed outside to snag some more leaves 😆 thanks for the tip!!!

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

You are very welcome Elisabeth - I make movies a bit more infrequently than most channels, but try to make them very helpful and high quality when I do put them out.

Thank you for sharing your gardening results, I wish more people were like you!!!

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

You are very welcome Caroline - I'm really glad you are finding it helpful!

I'm doing the same thing in my Garden. Thanks for the video!

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

It is a great thing for your soil Stephen - I bet you get great results too

Good job at sticking with it for 5 yrs! Hope to see what it looks like after 10!

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

Amen to that Al! I hope one day I need to rent equipment to show how deep my black soil goes.

Thank you for this video and information. We have loads of leaves so I will happily be moving them to cover the garden beds.

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

Excellent - I'm glad you found it helpful. Good luck!

Thanks for sharing. I will take this info when I get a garden. For my yard, I def mulch them into the soil. Your videos reassure my decision to do so.

@growitbuildit

10 ай бұрын

I'm glad I could help you out!

Great video, garden looks amazing!! Congratulations!!

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

Thank you Rick - It is by far the single best thing I've done to my soil.

Thank you for this update. Your dirt looks like mine, heavy sticky clay. Your yearly updates show how well leaf mulch amends the soil. 😊

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

Thank you! I'm glad you've been enjoying the updates. The difference in the soil behavior is quite real.

thanks for sharing! This is exactly what I do with all my autumn leaves! use them a s compost!

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

You are very welcome Hunter - leaves are the best!

Another thing I did this year was a "deep mulch". I did a "cut and cover" with the leaves in two of my beds to get more leaf mulch down low into the ground. I started at one end of the bed and used a hoe to pull back the dirt. Then I put a "liberal" amount of leaves in the trench. I stomped it down good to get as much mulch in the trench. Then I turned around and used the dirt I first dug up to cover the leaves in the trench. That created a new trench and I filled/stomped it with leaves, and used the dirt in the direction I was going to cover that trench. I just keep going that way until I got to the end and brought in some compost from my pile to cover the last filled/stomped trench. That would work with your "hard soils" to break them up sooner and to get the compost action going down deep quicker.

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

That is a lot of work, but as you say, that should work very nicely to get instant 'good' soil. I actually spread compost on my lawn in the most compacted, sun-beaten parts every Winter just to get some organic matter into the soils. Just top-dressing. Like with the leaf-mulch, it just seems to trickle down and get consumed by the grass. The excess grass clipping growth is then mulch mowed over time. Our ground is much softer to walk on in places I've done this.

Fascinating!! Thank you for this info!!

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

You are very welcome Trish - good luck using leaves this year!

This is year three of watching the progress you are making. I just started last year so I am right on your toes! I look forward to this video update every year! Thank you for sharing.

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

Thank you! Glad you have been following along. I bet you are going to have the same success I have been having!

Finally a mulching tip that has visible proof of success and seems super easy to do. Thank you!!!

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

You are very welcome Ajaxx!

The compost is wonderful to add before adding the leaf mulch. Great little garden.

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

Thank you! And I agree about the compost!

great video, I am adding to my raised beds

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

Excellent - I hope you get great results as I have. Good luck!

I can't love this enough!

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

Thank you! I'm glad you found it helpful!

I love that your kids wanted their own vegetable garden.

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

I agree - I couldn't say no to them. Getting them to love gardening is something I always hoped for.

@smas3256

Жыл бұрын

@@growitbuildit Love to hear this. Children are curious, inventive and adventurous. Please keep us posted.

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

Will do. Next year we are going to expand and fence in everything. Then we will give them space. And they like growing watermelons, which can take a lot of space!

Yessss I got a leaf mulcher last year and I love it. It is amazing. Makes your yard smell like a forest and quickly turns into rich topsoil. So glad to see you spreading this wisdom!

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

It is the best thing for soil that I've found Bull!

Invaluable information thanks a bunch

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

You are very welcome Jacob - glad you enjoyed it!

man, im always looking for "gold" picking up 19 bags of oak leaves tomorrow. good stuff. Thanks x the video indeed. Have a great year everybody.

@growitbuildit

Ай бұрын

It really is like gold for our soil. Thank you for the kind words - and good luck!

Thanks for sharing your info on leaf mulch and the squash vine borers. I topped my raised beds off with leaves 🍁 last year, but your research definitely shows the benefits of leaf mulching on an annual basis.

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

You are welcome Neecee! Glad you are finding the info helpful. And yes, keep on topping off everything with leaves!

Great way to repurpose fall leaves!

@growitbuildit

9 ай бұрын

Absolutely!

very nice video , informative and enjoyable... to the point !

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

Thank you RJ - I'm glad that you enjoyed it. Good luck!

Wow! Thanks for this video. I’m going to add a bunch of leaves to my garden area! I also have a compost pile to add some in. Looks like there’s hope for my soil yet after seeing yours.

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

Excellent - I bet you will have great results just as I have. Good luck!

Great job! I believe soil is about 90% of successful gardening and you proved/showed that!

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

Thank you Thom! What is amazing is that I've transformed mine for basically no money!

Wonderful video thank you so much for sharing

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

You are very welcome Teresa! I'm glad you enjoyed it!

Omg you broke a mattock on that soil? That is crazy tough soil! So glad it's improved. I love your videos.

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

I should have clarified - my soil has sooooo much rock and was so compact that I broke the handle of both. It was really ridiculous. The soil was so compacted and had so.much.rock. I actually expanded the garden by another 8' yesterday. I flipped the sod in about 90 minutes, took about 8 large rocks (6" dia-10" dia) out. But then removed one huge boulder that was 20" long 6" wide and maybe 12-18" tall. It easily weighed over 200 lb.

Thanks for another great video

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

You are very welcome John!

Appreciate your video on leaf mulch. We’ve been piling them and letting them decompose on their own. But putting them directly on the garden can take a step out of the labor of moving the pile! Appreciate!

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

Thank you Debora - I'm glad you found it helpful. And yes, it definitely takes a step out of the process

This is a great channel

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

Thank you Dillan - glad you are enjoying it.

your soil looks great i just filled my garden up with leaves yesterday and will cintinue to do so every fall, that and around all my trees and flower beds also

@growitbuildit

20 күн бұрын

Thank you Kenneth - I'm sure you will have the same success I have had using this method.

Very nice video. Compost is the way to go!

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

I agree completely Pedro! I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Great video! Fortunately I already started and have several neighbors lined up to collect leaves from. I too am laying a thin compost layer. Thanks.

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

Excellent - good luck E.D. That is great you already got some leaves lined up from your neighbors.

Wow great information!!

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

Thank you Jeannie! I'm glad you found it helpful!

Lovely black soil!👍

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

Thank you Andrew. It absolutely is beautiful!

Your garden looks amazing Sir...been doing the leaf method for last 30 years...5 years ago started new gardens from scratch, new soil, Square foot method..i love..great soil to start with and since i live in the forest, leaves are ...everywhere in fall..just about to do it again next week, also i created a bin to do more...again will be following you and your progress...kids garden..best things to do

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

Thank you Jean-Marc! Sounds like you've got an unlimited supply and a great system going.

Your videos are awesome. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us. My husband following your instructions last Fall in our vegetable garden and in only one year, the soil has improved tremendously. Thank you for the 2022 update too. You suggestions are wonderful; it's amazing how working with Mother Nature can far exceed any manmade things.

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

Thank you so much for the kind words Lisa! I'm very happy you enjoy how I make my videos, and even better to hear that you are having great results as I have! Keep up the good work, and thank you again!

excellent presentation

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

Thank you Marambula!

Thanks for your video!

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

You are very welcome - glad you found it helpful.

Out of all the composting I do I am surprised I never thought about doing this. My neighbors pile leaves every year and I just walk one or two houses and collect them to add to my compost pile. Thank you for the information!!

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

You are very welcome Chris - glad I could inspire you!

Thanks for sharing. Everything is at our feet for a happy and healthy existence. ;)

@growitbuildit

Жыл бұрын

You are very welcome! And yes, it is!