Needham Community Farm: Gardening Tips
Don’t take those fallen leaves that you rake off your lawn to the dump. They can form the foundation of a compost pile in an inconspicuous corner of your yard. Gardeners say that compost is their black gold. You can put composting materials in an informal pile or in a compost bin. Keep adding raked leaves and tuck under the leaves grass clippings (but not ones that have been sprayed with pesticides), vegetable scraps, tea, coffee grounds, egg shells, and extra soil. Never add any animal products or greasy foods that might attract animals or smell bad, and put in no weed plants that have gone to seed or garden plants infected with insects or fungi.
The compost pile will decay more quickly if it is turned onto a nearby space or mixed several times in Spring, Summer and Fall allowing plenty of oxygen to reach the earthworms, soil bacteria and other soil organisms as they break down the components of the pile to a form that plants can use.
Don’t remove the leaves from under shrubs and trees unless the leaves are large and form a thick layer, in which case you should put some of them on your compost pile. In Spring the leaves will decay in place to compost, replacing some of the nutrients in the soil that were removed by the plants as they grew. The fallen leaves also can form a natural mulch for perennial plants during the winter, preventing the repeated freezing and thawing of the soil that causes these plants to "heave" out of the ground.
Sharon Soltzberg is a member of the Board of Directors of the Needham Community Farm.
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