If you live in a wet climate, leaves mat down into a thick layer that blocks oxygen from the soil and microorganisms that need it. Leaving ALL of the mulch will keep things in my climate unhealthy for plants and soil animals. They at least need a stir to let oxygen in and if I need to sow seeds, the leaves have to be moved. I can shred them and replace them once plants are taller. It sounds like both the leave keepers and the leaf removers are doing their best to keep things healthy for all! Yay🎉 I love a community that is seeking the greatest good for the whole ecosystem. Go team! Keep up the good work.

@MindandSoil

Жыл бұрын

Woot! Totally :) Thanks for watching! Great points as well.

@georgeherbert5863

Жыл бұрын

errrm, well maybe but if you think about evolution and the fact everything did just great all the years before KZread, your idea of how soil works might not be tight

@kurtdowney1489

Жыл бұрын

I live in Colorado and can relate. Already lost my first spring transplants.

@tanisgeorgetti1439

Жыл бұрын

@@MindandSoil you’re not alone I’m the same way I would put Melch out to protect the plans but as soon as I wanna do my planting season I would’ve removed it as well unless it something that it absolutely had to have something around the base of the plant! Keep doing you don’t let anybody tell you what to do garden looks amazing so I don’t know what they’re even questioning it!😂❤

@Ed19601

Жыл бұрын

Totally agree. After some bad experience leaving them around young plants, i now only use them around my berryvshrubs for weed suppressing

Yes, yes, yes! Your garden, your happiness, your decision! Love it! 👀 Soil Boy cameo

@MindandSoil

Жыл бұрын

Hey Mike! You bet :) Thanks for this!

Love hearing personal preferences like this lol

Last year i had leafmulch around my garlic: they did bad, many rotted away. This time I did not leave leafmold on the garlic. They do much much better

@MindandSoil

Жыл бұрын

Interesting thanks for sharing :)

I make a leaf pile and leave it for a couple of years to rot down before using the leaf mould. Leaves on the beds are good places for slugs to hide. Use leaf mould and compost instead.

Respect! In an online world where we get so much (usually wrong) advice, it’s best to just do what works for you and feels right. Kudos!

From what I've seen of his videos, he already treats his soil with extreme care- he even gets a soil scientist to help him make the best soil mixes depending on what plant he's growing! Plus with whatever he removes can be used to get an awesome compost bin going for the year, which can go back to the garden anyways. I'm sure the plants and other critters will be fine, keep doing you dude 😂

@MindandSoil

Жыл бұрын

Thanks for that! :) It's definitely been a fun journey learning about what works well for my garden. Thanks for watching!

I honestly love the way wood mulch looks on my garden beds...my plants are happy too

Leaf mulch houses slugs and snails. Slugs and snails eat your produce.

@expandedlabs8526

Жыл бұрын

Yeah that is my problem. I have a snail nursery in there

@Daniela-pr7rz

Жыл бұрын

@@expandedlabs8526 with or without leaves, the snail and slugs will be there

THANK YOU FOR SAYING IT! My mum was telling me it’s good for the garden and was arguing with me about it hahah, and as as much as I know that, I like the look of a nice dark soil and green as well! I still use the leaves for composting and then spreading it back into the garden when it’s broken down more but Sometimes i just want a neat little garden. I completely understand.

Thanks for saying what so many of us think.

It's your garden!!!! You do you!!!! 😊

How do you get beautiful dark rich soil without leaf mulch? The point is it is not about you and it is not about me. It is about what does the greatest good for the earth. That is the most satisfying and fulfilling thing to pursue.

@MindandSoil

Жыл бұрын

My soil mixture is 75% compost and 25% vermiculite and that keeps the soil really dark with or without the mulch :) Agreed on the greatest good of the earth front!

The sow bugs and slugs like decaying matter. So I use cooked compost. 😊

@lourdesdoty7765

9 ай бұрын

Sow bugs actually are found where there are heavy metals in the soil and they are eating it! And slugs and snails will only eat plants that are unhealthy and dying! I garden organically, and never see snails or slugs eating my plants unless they are composting. I DO tho see them using my healthy plants to get up out of the soil to sleep or hang out. But never have I seen damage from them. So I leave them be. Mother nature knows best. She didn't create bugs to drive us crazy;). She created them to work in harmony.

I was just thinking you did it because the leaves can matte down but yes gardening is not an all size fit all! Do you, and have fun growing!

Make sure you turn those leaves into leaf mold to add back to the soil.

Im with you!

do what makes you happy! your plants look happy too ❤

I’m with you.😁😀

Correct, your garden, your joy.

In the fall I add 3 to 6 inches of leaves to insulate my plants from the cold. In spring I remove most of it to replenish my compost pile

Leaving the leaves down is really awesome because the dirt is wonderful come spring but I thought it would be a good idea to leave my lease down the one time and I had slugs like you wouldn't believe I don't care what anybody says I'm not doing that again

Your preference....doesn't make it "right".

So many good ideas for a 1st timer like me.❤ Thanks so much. Right or wrong just follow your 6th sense. Every lush garden is different, as long as the greens are happy🎉❤🎉

@MindandSoil

11 ай бұрын

You are so welcome! Glad it’s helpful :)

This is among the biggest gardener's dilemmas. Aesthetics are so important. I also can't stand ugly mulch.

Finally I love my male gardeners here on KZread there always so knowledgeable however......definitely not the best videos visually lol 😂❤

Oak trees in the north Midwest USA have too many tanins. Same with pine and spruce.

You do you that’s great . I’m the same way.

He doesn't give a 💩 about his garden's joy, peace and happiness

@IdentityIAm111

Ай бұрын

Why's that, bud?

As child I would be helping my dad weed the garden, he would pull the weeds out then lay them flat on top of the soil to add organic matter and mulch... I would be gollowing behind "helping" and throw sll the weeds away because they looked messy 😊😂😂 I was able to learn to keep them there so long as we added a layer of "tidy" mulch on top lol

I cover mine with fresh compost over my winter leaves. Gives that manicured look, I think.

I do the same i like seeing plants and soil..plus my climate makes the leaves soggy and clammy

Great answer! 👍

@vkdowdy9519

Жыл бұрын

@@hachmejo I have great soil and beautiful plants. Tons of worms, happy wildlife, and enjoy my garden. Just leaf it at that dude.

@MindandSoil

Жыл бұрын

Thanks 👍

I love my leaf mulch but you have to make yourself happy first! Do what works for you 😊

@MindandSoil

10 ай бұрын

So true! Thanks for watching :)

I've actually had problems with growing carrot/parsnip with leaf mulch applied, I suppose the leaves gave a lot of cover for slugs and woodlice which love to have a nibble at anything green early on in winter - live and learn!

This is just like how everyone parents in their own way. Be the best you can be in your own best way.

Well said

You can always throw it in the compost pile until you resow anyway

put your leafs through a shredder and it looks amazing in the raised beds

Context. This man gets it.

For those who use a thick leaf mulch layer on their gardens with compost presumably underneath… do you till the soil in the spring time or is the voluminous property of leaf mulch enough for air to get through?

I use lawnmower and mulch on the driveway then mix in the garden soil.

I don’t get what’s so visually pleasing about unprotected soil. I think it’s just a weirdly manicured impractical aesthetic choice. I wouldn’t peel my skin off to reveal the lovely shade of pink beneath it. That being said, you have a garden. You put your own effort and time into it, and you can do whatever you want with it. Nothing I say should ultimately matter even if I don’t think that choice makes any sense

Sure, agreed. But that might not be the case in a near future. Proper water management will very likely become a moral obligation, at this pace.

Right on. It makes sense to compost the leaves though. That way you will get the benefits still.

Reminds me of those people who don’t mow their yards in may, in order to support bee/pollinator populations; I really don’t like the look of an unkept lawn regardless of positive intentions.

We found pulling off the top of our garden soil putting old leaf and compost down putting the soil back on top and planting over winter we use a frost net fabric that gets pulled from our garlic growing threw winter. We understand a nice place.

Is there a way to shred those leaves so they can be turned into the top layer of soil? That way you have a leafy layer that is good for the soil

I tried leaving the leaves in my yard down one year and I had a ton of slugs and mosquitoes the next summer. And with all the rain we've been having it's just impossible to go into the yard with all the mosquitoes.

Currently I'm using fallen leaves to protect my seedlings from birds. I don't have net so i need to think of new to cover my growing plants from birds.

I wish I could keep my leaves for mulch, but our goats eat them all before I can collect them. lol

The way you "should" do things normally means the most efficient way which is fine but efficient isnt always fun

I agree about the look of leaf mulch. I have to use the natural mulch available on my property because that’s what I can afford. Free. So, leaves and pine straw it is. OR $700 water bills for the summer just to keep things alive,😊

I agree with the beauty part and also have observed it feels messy and ugly hehe. Would you check these permanent ground cover plants i refined over years? Scleranthus Uniflorus Maybe Irish moss Corsican mint

I'm zone 6, it might differ per zone, what zone do you occupy?

Good for you! You shouldn't have to defend your actions but the education and freedom to explore it can give others is important

You be you boo😅

Woah 🔥

Are rollie pollies good for the garden?

I thought you were going to say you removed the leaf mulch so you could add fertilizers to your garlic bed.

Leave the grass just add straw too, looks better and still have leafs

Some Leaf mulch over winter is helpful. Too much overwhelms the plants. Once spring comes you should remove the leaf mulch as everything starts to grow.

I don’t like the look either plus I also don’t enjoy seeing my garden being devoured by slugs that hang out in it, so I remove it too by late Spring so I can get air circulation going around stuff like my Irises, hostas, hydrangeas, roses, etc. I stockpile the leaves, mulch them down with the lawnmower and mix them into potting soil when I’m setting up the hayracks on the deck, the window boxes on the house and my large scale urns that hold my Boston Ferns on the porch and under the tree that flanks the bench in the yard. Their great for lots of stuff instead of buying a lot of peat to help with hydration during our extremely hot & humid summers!!

Basically! I love and respect the natural way as well and even had a fit this season because my family took all the leaves off of the yard. It's for aesthetic purposes, i fet it, I do love as well so it was nice seeing the lawn all cleaned up. I was torn, to say the very least.

@MindandSoil

Жыл бұрын

I definitely prefer the way that is best fit for nature :) Thank you for watching!

Ok, think of it like this : Soil & Plant happiness is more important than our happiness (of looking good) ☺️🙏🏼

I had problems with leaf mulch bringing in weeds. Picking hundreds of baby oaks out of a bed got old fast!

I live in a hot climate so mulch is essential

Liam Hemsworth of gardening

I remove it during the day so the sun can warm the dark soil but then I put it back on at sunset

I thought you were going to say that removing it to expose the black compost below will actually increase your early seasons soil temps and improve spring growth

There's also beauty in chaos

Algalfa pellets + wood chips worked great for me. WAY more worms!

Thanos from multiverse

Do what you want.

Lmao I’m the same way 💀

In my opinion leaf mulch is only good for places with very hot summer like mine. I live in a very hot place that sometimes I need to water my garden in the morning and also in the evening. So there when I use the mulching I can save some water.

bruh for the aesthetic appeal

I don't use leaves due to so much acidity, I have a lot of trees, ton of leaves, see a big difference on property sections with and with out leaves, parents uses natural mulch

Yeah I don't like to cover my soil either

If you don’t cover the soil on raised beds they seem to get too hot. My plants like cool soil for their roots.

Its called being productive. Its ok 😂

You do you boo

Same

I remove it too. I just don’t like the look with my garden. 🇨🇦

perhaps if you shredded the leaves first? lol do what you makes you happy

😂 dude you can drop that leaf mold off here. You forgot to mention weed suppression. Shredded leaves for my garden beds and my compost make me happy 😁. Whereas I'm going to guess that you have a nice cultivating tool that you enjoy weeding with.

So you'd rather solarize the top layer of soil and kill the soil life because you find it less asthetic...😂 ....or you could leave some and just let the earthworms eat it down in the next month as it warms up...or are you killing off earthworms as well?

Lol respect

I couldn't imagine putting my aesthetic preferences ahead of the value of the living things that need what is there. That's disgusting. Common, but disgusting nevertheless.

I guess the leaves didnt spark joy.

It’s your garden I know that’s right

Your approach is wrong if you want to save water and increase retention.

it's all about you

Where are you based?

@MindandSoil

9 ай бұрын

BC, Canada 🇨🇦

I compost my leaves.

Respecting the way nature works is right. You are wrong

Woodchip

liam hemsworth??

boo. that's the only reason?? pfft weak

Just send compost as mulch, not wrong either way