No one makes a special trip to Blythewood to view the changing colors of the fall leaves. We have many evergreen trees that remain green all year. For the best color, the leaves need to experience larger changes in temperature than we normally have. However, some trees around here do put on a show. I remember that my middle daughter, who developed an obsession with the color orange as a toddler, was enthralled by seeing some tree leaves, which had for all her working memory been a boring green, transformed to a brilliant orange.
As a farmer or a gardener, I appreciate leaves the most when they fall from the trees to give me free organic matter to add to the garden. In my own yard, I let the leaves remain on the grass and blow into the shrubbery where they decompose. I do not have large deciduous trees close to my house that will blanket my grass with leaves and kill it, and I do not have a homeowner’s association that might send me nasty sniping letters about how I need to clean up my yard or else, and so I understand that leaving the leaves where they fall is not an option for everyone.
Autumn leaves fall to the ground in the forest and fertilize the soil. Pull back leaves in the forest and you will find crumbly, cake-crumb-like, dark soil, even if the soil beneath this layer is clay or sand. The microorganisms in the soil and the earthworms digest the leaves and turn it into soil.
Even if you are not a gardener, consider creating a pile of leaves and allowing them to decompose in an unused corner of the yard instead of encasing them in plastic bags and sending them to the landfill. You can create wire cages out of chicken wire or fencing to help contain them. I have gathered bags and piles of leaves for years, with the help of some teenagers, to spread on the pathways in my farm to suppress weeds and to add organic matter. I have also created piles of leaves and abandoned them, only to return a year later to find crumbly black soil.
Whatever you do with your leaves, do not incorporate this year’s leaves into your garden soil. Pile them on top of the soil to use as mulch or let them decompose for a year and then work them into the soil, but don’t till recently fallen leaves into your garden soil. The soil microbes need nitrogen to fuel them to digest all the carbon, and so they will “tie-up” the nitrogen as they use it to decompose the carbon in the leaves. They consume the nitrogen faster than your plants, and so your garden will suffer from a lack of nitrogen until the microbes are finished with their “meal.”
On the farm, the season is nearly finished. I hope to have bouquets in the flower stand until frost, but please check my website for details before you come out. The You-Pick is closed for the season. Preorders for my handmade Christmas Wreaths are open at https://onehubcapfarm.com/.