As a garden coach, I am often asked to share some of my garden maintenance secrets. And whenever anyone visits my garden and isn’t familiar with the dark rich mulch in my beds, they will ask what kind of mulch do I use!
Composted leaf mulch is my number one garden maintenance secret. I often notice gardens that were installed, looking grand, and then left to fend for itself. At first everything looks perfect and the mulch, usually a triple shredded hardwood, has a nice brown color lying warmly over the dirt. Not long after installation, the worst looking part of the new garden is the old mulch. There is now crabgrass growing in it, water has washed all the smaller particles away leaving large chunks in the mulch that get bleached out by the sun and look like old bones in a dessert. Or if it is in the shade, just big chunks with some other weed invading the mulch.
I am a lover of composted leaf mulch. When the leaf suckers come work the neighborhoods in the fall taking up all our leaves, they take them to the city yard waste center and compost it. After several months, it is ready for our gardens. While it has its advantages, it also has its disadvantages, err, points of interest. It holds its color, all pieces are uniform, not causing the mulch to look chunky, it adds nutrients to the soil, and stays in place. It also retains moisture, keeps the roots cool, and it is restful on the eye. And because it is so densely packed, it is a far superior mulch to other mulches for retarding weed growth. It is so good, be sure to collect seeds from reseeding annuals that like to be on the surface, like reseeding inpatients, because composted leaf mulch will keep some reseeding annuals from germinating. Then in the spring, sow the seeds onto your winter composted leaf mulch. It doesn’t seem to stop the Monarda or the Cleome from germinating though.
The dark rich color makes one the envy of the gardening community. Because it is composted leaf, it will break down faster than other mulches. It may need to be put down semi-annually, but could last a year. When wondering to how long mulch will last in a bed, several factors will affect this including sunlight, shade, the thickness it is laid, and moisture level. I find that mulch will last longer if it does not receive irrigation.
This mulch is not without its points of interest. There is trash in there! After years of monotonously hauling mulch into gardens, one wheel barrel at a time, I have made a mental list of all the kinds of trash I have found.
Here are some of my findings from the City of Raleigh Yard Waste composted leaf mulch:
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Electrical wire |
Blue painters tape |
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Black plastic bag bits |
Life saver wrapper |
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Clear plastic bag bits |
Milk Dud box – actually, that one may have fallen out of my pocket;-} |
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Red plastic Solo cup bits – Do you suppose there are Carolina Blue cups in the Chapel Hill Yard Waste? |
Heinz ketchup packet – empty |
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Pop can tops – the new ones, not the old ones that were redesigned so wouldn’t cut our feet at the beach. Remember those….ever make a necklace out of them? |
A 4 inch wide inter lid to a prepared dip or yougart |
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Bungee cords |
A wine foil |
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Chunks of clay |
A Valley Rich eggnog carton wrapper – the inter paper carton decomposed, but the plastic overlay remained. |
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Rocks |
Milk cap |
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Condoms – what’s up with that! |
The plastic protective cover from a square Kleenex box |
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Glass pieces |
Ball of duct tape |
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Plastic Mountain Dew bottles |
Straw |
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Coke cans |
Straw wrapper |
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Cigarette butts |
Yellow package strap |
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Those plastic ends from Cigars |
Pepsi Can |
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Plastic bottle caps |
Piece of bungee cord |
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Cigarette package |
Yellow crime scene tape – just kidding, but I am sure someone has found it! |
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Tennis ball |
Hi C juice box |
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Dog toy |
Gatorade cap |
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Plastic pieces from fire works |
Speaker wire |
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Sticks |
Mayonnaise little packet – empty |
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Clear plastic bottles – liter and quart |
Plastic grocery bag |
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Bread ties – both the plastic wire coated kind and the other |
A part of a Happy Meal toy |
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Tarp pieces |
Child size soccer ball |
If composted leaf mulch were used instead of the other kinds, those newly installed gardens would look good for much longer. Maybe my need as a garden coach will be reduced…it is still best to share the good news and hlep build good garden maintenance practices.
The City of Raleigh Yard Waste Center on New Hope Road, just off Route 64, sells it by the truckload; however, they don’t deliver. If you don’t have a truck, you can fill bags or another container, and they will charge you by the bag/container. If you need lots of it like I do, call Mulch Masters for a delivery. Then get your wheel barrel out with a pick and a manure shovel, and begin applying the mulch, one wheel barrel at a time!
Helen Yoest
