Final leaves collected -- not chopping them

Collected leaves over the past two or three weeks, some from the hill on top of the hill, the rest from the grassy area left of the stairs.  A great method for the closer spot is to bring the garbage can instead of bags -- so much easier/quicker to fill it up.

The first few batches of leaves I had been blending in the garbage can with the big mower.  BUT, when it ran out of reel and I replaced it with a new reel, that new reel was all used up in almost no time at all!!!!!!  Like it blended only maybe one or two garbage bags!!!!  Which means there are a ton of teeny pieces of plastic reel all mixed in with the leaves!

So, for the rest of the leaves, which is a lot of leaves, I'll just leave them whole, and see how that goes.

One or the original bags of mowed leaves is in the basement to be used next year.

Hollyhocks looked awful, so removed them, will use stems for next year's mulch

They were full of rust and mostly done flowering, and looked awful, so for neighbourhood concerns removed them.  Removed the seed pods and kept the stalks/stems to use for next year's mulch.

Mulch: Wins from last year! Overwintered chopped leaves in basement garbage bag; overwintered hollyhock and zinnia

The garbage bag of chopped leaves that I put in the basement last fall to use this spring is great!!  Looks like it has started to mold (but no bad smell)!  Used half of it to mulch various things; saving the rest to mulch the other things that will be transplanted soon.

And, the hollyhock stems and zinnias that I had overwintered in the yard for the birds -- were mostly a fail birdwise (saw birds eating their seeds only a couple of times) -- but are coming in very handy as a woody mulch for established plants.

I'm also using cut grass from the yard, letting it dry out before applying it as a mulch.

~8 bags of leaves shredded and put into yard

To shred them:  Used the big powerful whipper snipper, in basement (since noisy), leaves into green bin then "blendering" them with the whipper snipper.  Would be easier/better with wider bin like garbage can, but it still worked.

Eye goggles, face mask, and gloves.

Most of the leaves went into the beds (dug in); some went onto the grass paths.

Some left over will probably keep in basement (in garbage bag) for the winter.

The hill/park grass was mowed; will let it dry for a few days then use it as mulch

^^^

Collected mowed grass for mulch

From some local schools.  Not quite dry enough yet, so spread out on bed paths to dry before applying to plants.

The tall grass on the hill was mowed today

^^^

Garlic stems/leaves applied as "floating mulch"

After cutting the garlic bulbs from the big stems/leaves, I scattered the stems/leaves in a few places in the garden, many of them sort of suspended in air by the growing plants underneath.  Added them mostly to the two kale beds and various other spots, with the faint thought that maybe they'll help repel the cabbage moth etc.

Veganic-ish since 2020

Last year (2020) was the first year I didn't use any store-bought manure.

 Prior to 2020, I had been using "mushroom compost", at first because I had mistaken it to be composted mushrooms, but then once I learned it's left-over manure from mushroom growing, well I continued buying it with the faint hope that maybe it was actually composted mushrooms.

In later summer / early fall 2019, I went and got a bunch of well aged (2-3 years) horse manure from Penny Lane Sanctuary which provides a home for rescued horses and other farm animals.  Not veganic, but I'll call it veganic-ish, and I feel fine about using this manure, given its source.

So in fall 2019 I applied a bunch of horse manure.

In 2020 I used up most of the rest of the horse manure.  And the potting soil I was using it turns out (as I learned this past winter)nwas accidentally vegan (Promix Premium potting mix). 

In 2021, i.e. this year, my soil amendments consist of:

- horse manure:  I have one bag of the horse manure left, which I haven't used yet but will throughout the year.

- alfalfa pellets

- kelp meal

- lawn clippings as mulch (collected from CB school front and other spots)

- ground up leaves as mulch

I'm no longer using cedar mulch in the yard anymore other than a few pots for aesthetics, since it doesn't add much if anything to the soil. 

Unfortunately I decided to stop using my compost bin because I just couldn't control the smell, which I don't mind, but my poor neighbours.  Didn't harvest any compost this year, just going to let it all sit there and finish up.

Used newly-collected mown leaves to mulch the chard/parsley/onion/broccoli

Would be fantastic to not buy any cedar mulch, well at least for the backyard, and use leaves instead as mulch for water retention.  Saves money, and doesn't leave behind those big chunks of wood.

No-dig: Garlic bed, which was mulched thickly with leaves, soil nice and soft!

Wow!  The soil in the garlic bed by the kitchen door, which I mulched thickly with mown leaves last fall, is nice and soft, very easy to put my hand in.  (Discovered this this spring while moving a few garlics to fill in gaps.)

This makes me really want to try some no-dig beds, starting this coming fall by doing a thick mown-leaf mulch.  It's a lot of work to collect the leaves especially since they mow down to nothing, so it takes a LOT of leaves and mowing, but, if it means not maiming worms etc. next spring, it will be worth it. 

I'm thinking next year the entire kitchen window bed, the air conditioner beds, and at least part of the west bed would be good candidates.