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Tidy up your garden

Improve your soil and garden organically with valuable garden boosters that grow on trees. 

In fall, our village has a day to pick up fallen leaves. It is a day when homeowners and landscapers blow fallen leaves from their homes and leave them in large piles on the streets. Later a truck comes and vacuums them up. What I see is dollar bills, the money these homeowners will spend next year buying lawn and garden fertilizer, mulch and bagged compost. You could have saved money if you had used leaves from your garden.

Why are leaves so valuable to gardeners?
➢ It’s simple. When mixed with soil, the leaves fall off.
➢ Added nutrients including phosphorus and potassium.
➢ Increases microbial life in soil.
➢ Enhances moisture retention.
➢ Improve structures known as slopes.

And did I mention the leaves are free?
Creating leaves requires a little effort. So, instead of sweeping leaves to the curb, here are five ways to use leaves in your garden.

Mow the lawn
Using a combination of shredded leaves and grass clippings adds carbon from the leaves and nitrogen from the grass to the soil, reducing the need to add store-bought fertilizer later.

Here’s how: Use a mulching mower. If you have bags, remove them and point the discharge chute toward the lawn so that clippings fly onto the lawn instead of the street or driveway. Set the mower height to approximately 3 inches. If the leaves still remain in large pieces, pass through one more time. Shredded leaves should not be placed deeper than 3/4 inch into the lawn. It decomposes in the soil over the winter and disappears in the spring.

Buy lawn mowers from RDKLanscaping

Add to your vegetable garden

You can add whole or chopped leaves to your organized vegetable garden. Most will decompose over the winter, and you can mix up what’s left in the spring. If you don’t want to see leaves left in your bed, shred them first.

Don’t have a grinder?
A trash can and string trimmer will work. Use a 55-gallon trash can. Fill about 3/4 full with leaves.
Put the trimmer in, turn it on, and move it through the leaves. Be sure to wear eye and ear protection. Are you ready to redesign your yard? Find a landscape designer in RDKLandscaping.

Create a leaf frame

Leaf mold is simply wet leaves that break down into a rich, black, earthy substance that makes the perfect mulch for your plants. Stack the leaves where they won’t blow away and out of the way. Alternatively, make a large 3- to 4-foot circle with 3-foot-tall wire and pile the leaves inside it. If you wet the leaves, they will rot. Turning the pile several times during the winter will speed up the process.

Tear or roll the leaves and place them in a compost pile to rot over the winter

A better option is to store the dried leaves in trash bags or pile them up in a secluded location for the summer. Warm weather enriches compost piles with moist green matter nitrogen. However, for the composting process to work aerobically and not decay, a lot of “brown” carbon is needed in the form of dried material. What you need to know about winter composting

Protect your outdoor plants
As the weather gets colder and potted plants or non-tropical plants that need to be moved indoors go dormant, choose a safe location on the north, west, or east side of your home. Ideally, the pot should be stored under an overhang. Stack dried leaves at the top, bottom, and between entire groups of pots.

If you live in a windy area, tie the planter with wire to keep the leaves from blowing away. Pile the leaves a few inches deep and plant as many as you can to cover the entire pot. Both plants and pots should survive the winter well under this insulating blanket. This method allows you to place your terracotta pots outdoors as long as water does not get into them and freeze. Prepare your container garden for winter.

What’s the worst thing you can do with fallen leaves?

Burn it. Most local governments have banned leaf burning, and for good reason. Burning leaves pollute the air, cause problems for people with respiratory problems and pose a fire hazard. Plus, as you can see, there are a lot more valuable things you can do with leaves.

Learn more about RDKLandscaping. Additional guides to fall gardening. (Add Support Link) Find a landscape designer.  shop lawn and garden tools and accessories.

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Experts in tree removal, stump  demolition, stump removal, tree trimming, tree mulching, tree pruning and emergency tree removal  in Buffalo, NY

Read our Reviews!!

Todd Wilhelm
Todd Wilhelm
2024-10-01
Had sod installed at my house in Amherst. Job done very quickly and well. Highly recommended. Will be using them again for spring 2025 project.
Md Mia
Md Mia
2024-09-27
RDK Tree Service removed a large maple by the power lines. It was definitely not a easy job. They did the job safely and did it rather quickly. I will definitely recommend them for your tree services.
Bike Lover
Bike Lover
2024-09-27
Residing in Buffalo NY, and needed to remove a large tree in the backyard and front yard. The crew did a fantastic job with removing it along with the stump. We are so impressed. Thank you RDK!
selvachandran saravanan
selvachandran saravanan
2024-09-25
Did a job here in my rental property in Amherst of removing two 60-70ft pine trees with stump removal and prepped an area for parking. RDK Landscaping is the one you should go to with your tree and landscaping/hardscaping needs. They are just the best overall!!
jackary Rootis
jackary Rootis
2024-09-24
I highly recommend them. Great crew, Super easy to work with. They’re doing a great job out here in East Amherst. Not only did I use them, but my neighbor and their son did as well and we couldn’t be happier.
DIANE Abram: Toot-Toot Daycare
DIANE Abram: Toot-Toot Daycare
2024-09-21
I hope these pictures speak for itself. I had called couple of companies to my property in Northampton, Buffalo, but only RDK Landscaping had come out so quick to give a quote for a project we started and couldn’t finish. They were so quick, efficient and had completed the project in about 2 days. They did a beautiful job, and answered all my questions throughout the entire process. I am so very thrilled about the results and could not recommend more! They are doing wonderful projects.
Dan Duggan
Dan Duggan
2024-09-19
RDK Landscaping did an amazing job! We had 8 dead ash trees at our property in Clarence that needed to be taken down given their proximity to the house and garage, in addition to two trees close to the power lines. I was very impressed with how quickly Roy and his team responded, came out to the property and got the job done. I would highly recommend them!
Andres Martinez
Andres Martinez
2024-09-14
Everybody at RDK Landscaping was a pleasure to deal with, we had a big project with them to clear up some really overgrown gardens beds around our garage, they went above and beyond making our space useable again. Once the project was complete they made sure to clean everything up and even cleared some weeds we had on our driveway that we hadn’t even mention to them. Can’t recommend them enough and will be calling them first for any future landscaping projects.
Esther Guess
Esther Guess
2024-09-12
The guys were quick and effective at getting all that ivy down. Great work!

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