What to do with all those fall leaves

The leaves are falling, and it is time to begin thinking about what you will do with them all.

Bagging leaves to go to the landfill is a waste of landfill space and also a waste of a valuable garden resource. Instead of bagging them and hauling off to the dump this year, consider these suggestions.

An easy way to get rid of leaves is to simply rake them onto perennial beds as a nice winter mulch. Sometimes heavy leaf mulches may suffocate your plants, but use your good judgment. Small leaves generally will not offer any threat, but huge leaves, such as sycamore, might cause problems.

Another great choice is to place them in the compost pile along with other garden plant material. You don’t need a special compost bin. A big hole dug behind the garage or some other inconspicuous place works nicely. Fill the hole with lots of leaves and other garden plant material.

Or create a compost pile and use them as the “carbon” layer. The OSU Fact Sheet HLA 6448 “Backyard Composting in Oklahoma” is helpful and can be found at osufacts.okstate.edu.

You also simply can mow over them as often as necessary before they build up too deep. The chopped leaves return valuable organic matter and nutrients to the soil.

If you use a mower with a bag attachment, you can capture the chopped leaves and then distribute them as needed. They work well as an excellent mulch, compost additive or can be worked into your vegetable garden.

If you have a large amount of leaves, consider buying or renting a leaf shredder or a vacuum-shredder. Vacuumshredders suck up the leaves, chop them, and then collect them into a bag. Once leaves are shredded, you can then use them as described above. Remember, however, that shredders, blowers, and choppers work well only when the leaves are nice and dry. If leaves are wet, they can cause clogs.

Winter workshop

Get ready for winter and join us for “What about Winter,” a workshop on Friday, Nov. 16, from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. This workshop is a winter gardening and cooking class for all skill levels and will cover a variety of subjects. It will be at the Oklahoma County Extension Center, 2500 NE 63.

Topics include winter landscaping tips such as how to create winter interest in your landscape and how to use materials from your landscape to decorate for the holidays. Winter lawn care tips and irrigation system maintenance in the winter months also will be covered.

Find out how to extend the season for vegetable gardens and get an early start on the spring season. Learn when and how to prune or train plants during the winter.

There also will be a seasonal winter recipe cooking demonstration with a food tasting and a take-home seasonal recipe collection.

This workshop is part of the new “Four Seasons Living” educational workshop series provided by the Extension Service. There is a $5 registration fee.

Call 713-1125 for more information, or go to oces.okstate.edu/ oklahoma.