Colorado Gardening Calendar for January 2024

Early January at the Denver Botanic Gardens Photo: Linda McDonnell

By Linda McDonnell, CSU Extension – Denver Master Gardener since 2013

It may be tempting to kick back and think there is nothing much to do in the garden this month. And while it is not the busiest time, taking a few steps when needed will set plants, trees, and lawns up for future success.

Winter Watering – January’s Most Important Task

It’s important to water trees, shrubs, perennials, and lawns during extended dry periods of 2-4 weeks. Supplemental water provides root systems with moisture that is critical to long-term plant health. It is especially crucial for new plants (1 year old or less) with smaller, less developed roots. Without this added moisture, plants may exhibit stunted growth, be more susceptible to disease, or die. Often decline is not noticeable till next summer when the root system can’t support the plant’s vigorous growth.

Water early in the day when temperatures are above forty degrees. Give plants a good soak – 8 to 12″ deep and out to the drip line of trees. Find more information on winter watering here.

Branches of  ‘Carol Mackie’ Daphne will easily split under heavy snow. Photo: Linda McDonnell

Trees and Shrubs

Heavy snow can crush or bend the limbs of trees and shrubs. Remove it by lifting branches lightly from the bottom with a broom to avoid breaking limbs. The branches will spring back as if to say thanks.

Prune any storm-damaged limbs as needed to prevent further breakage. Find additional post-storm tips here.

Perennials

Watch for signs of heaving such as cracked soil and raised crowns. This can happen around newly planted perennials when temperatures fluctuate widely. Heaving can expose and damage roots and kill plants. If heaving is present, check moisture, add soil or compost around the plant, and top with mulch.

Speaking of mulch – spread more where needed; it will help moderate temperature extremes.

Remove any diseased foliage that’s lingering in your beds to reduce the chance of infesting next season’s growth. Discard the foliage in the city’s green compost bin or trash. Home compost systems don’t get “hot” enough to destroy pathogens.

Plan Ahead

Should you keep or toss old seed packets? Learn how to tell here.

Scour online and print catalogs to find tried-and-true plant varieties along with new, buzz-worthy introductions.

The CSU Soil Testing Lab opens on January 21^st. If the ground is workable, consider beating the spring rush and sending a sample for analysis this winter. Find directions for digging the sample, using the results and costs here.

Check out the line-up of CSU’s no-cost webinars. There are lots of topics to choose from including turf alternatives, CSU test garden results, and water-saving tips. Find the full spring schedule and recordings of past webinars here.

Explore CSU’s resources for research-based gardening information that will make this year’s garden the best one yet.

What Should I Do With All These Leaves?

By Gail Leidigh, CSU Extension – 2021 Denver Master Gardener Apprentice

After moving to Denver and having a yard to take care of for the first time, I had no idea what to do with the volume of leaves each fall from several large older trees. Do I rake them? Use a leaf blower? Do I hand clear them out of the plant beds? And, how on earth do I dispose of them?

Our small urban lot easily generated 30-40 full leaf bags annually and it seemed overwhelming. Denver natives may laugh at my initial confusion but having grown up in a region of the pacific northwest, where the vast majority of trees are evergreen, I simply had not dealt with this before. I have learned quite a bit about how to deal with leaves in the last few years and thankfully this has saved me time and unnecessary work.

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  Fall colors in Colorado are absolutely beautiful! Photo by Gail Leidigh

The first couple of years I would remove leaves from plant beds either by blower or by hand, as I assumed this was the correct thing to do, but I later learned this is unnecessary. While leaves should always be cleared from hard surfaces such as sidewalks, stairs, and patios for safety reasons, it really is fine to leave them in plant beds over winter. I now know that this gives perennials and shrubs protection and nutrients for several months until springtime. It may not be the tidiest look, but there are many benefits, including giving insects a great place to live.

Leaves can be left on lawn areas as well but should be shredded to provide organic material that can break down easily. Realizing these two things have saved me a tremendous amount of effort. 

And then, what to do with the leaves you need to dispose of? While you can bag and dispose of them in the trash or sweep them in the street for the street sweepers, but please avoid these practices. Both of those options create lots of unnecessary waste.

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  Annual leaf cleanup task in the backyard. Photo by Gail Leidigh

With a little more effort, you can put your leaves to good use. The Denver area has three great options.

• You can compost leaves yourself. You will find helpful information on how to do this in CSU Extension’s PlantTalk Colorado article Composting: Fall Leaves and this informative blog post by Denver Master Gardener Rikki Hanson on How to Build a Three-Bin Composting System. 

• Denver Recycles offers a seasonal program called LeafDrop, where you can bag up your leaves and drop them off at various locations around the city. The leaves are then turned into compost, available to Denver residents at a discounted price later in the year. Follow the link for dates, times, and drop off locations. Note that paper leaf bags (available from many hardware stores) are strongly preferred as they can be composted as well. 

• Denver Composts is a convenient composting bin pickup program, where you can place food scraps, non-recyclable paper (paper towels, pizza boxes, etc.), and yard waste. And an added bonus – this includes weeds!

There is a quarterly fee of $29.25 (discounted if you pay annually), and this comes with the green compost bin (slightly smaller than a recycle bin) that is picked up weekly, and a small countertop kitchen pail.

As I don’t have the space or resources to compost myself, I have found this to be a wonderful way to reduce trash and get rid of yard waste, while contributing to the composting program for our city. 

Lastly, check out this PlantTalk article about Why Leaves Change Color in the Fall and enjoy the cooler seasons coming!

How to Build a Three-Bin Composting System

By Rikki Hanson
CSU Extension-Denver Master Gardener since 2014 and a Denver Urban Gardens (DUG) Master Composter since 2013

Composting is an amazing process that produces one of the best soil amendments gardeners can use. One of my favorite composting systems uses three bins for creating brown gold in your own backyard. This composting system is efficient and gives the option of having two bins to work with at all times. It can also be built to fit any space, making it easy to maintain.

To Build a Three-bin Composting System, you’ll need:

• Gloves
• Untreated barriers for the three bins, such as bricks, cinder blocks, nontoxic landscape timber, chicken wire, 2×4 construction lumber, wooden pallets, etc.
• Pitchfork or shovel
• Tarp or plastic cover
• Sifter

Step 1: Finding a Location for Compost Bins

In our semi-arid climate it’s important to locate the three-bin system on a level site, in a semi-shady location that’s protected from drying winds. With our hot summers and intense sunlight, compost in a south or southwest-facing location could potentially heat up too much, killing the living decomposers.

Step 2: Building the Bins

Set up the bins to fit your space, such as 3x3x3-feet or 5x5x5-feet using bricks, blocks, lumber or your choice of building material to create three separate bins.

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  An example of a 3-bin compost system with materials added to the middle and right bin, leaving the bin on the far left open for turning. Photo by Rikki Hanson

CSU Extension explains the three-bin system in the Fact Sheet on Composting Yard Waste as an efficient wood structure that allows plant material to be aerated by turning it from one bin to the next as it decomposes.

Once the three-bin structure is in place, use a pitch fork or shovel to expose about an inch or so of earth in each bin area. Exposing the bottom of the bin attracts microorganisms living in the soil.

Step 3: Adding Materials to Bins

Add organic matter to two bins and leave one bin empty at all times to promote faster compost production and allow turning the material from one bin to another.

Spread 4-6-inches of mixed, chopped up carbon material, the tough brown, woody materials like leaves, cornstalks, straw, shredded newsprint, paper, brown paper bags, small amounts of sawdust, vacuum contents, wood chips, clumpy grass and discarded stems from annuals pulled at the end of the season.

Add 2-to-4-inches of mixed, chopped-up nitrogen material, the green layer that includes vegetable scraps, coffee grounds, grass clippings, alfalfa, eggshells, oats, beans, bread, fruit scraps and rinds, hair, garden waste, cotton rags and strings, pond algae and non-synthetic dryer lint.

NOTE: Don’t add meat, dairy products, fat, bones or lime. Eggshells are fine, but not eggs.

If you have a large quantity of grass clippings, let them dry for a day or two before adding them to the pile. Untreated grass clippings can be added to food scraps, alfalfa hay, weeds, or hair to vary texture.

Add a thin layer of soil from the garden on top of the green layer to introduce decomposing microorganisms to your system.

Composting Tips:

• Mix and moisten the layered sandwich of brown and green material plus soil until it feels like wrung-out sponge.
• The layering should continue until the piles are about 3-4-feet tall in two of the bins.
• Cover with a tarp or opened black trash bag and secure with rocks or bricks to help trap heat and activate the microorganisms and decomposers.

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  A tarp covers the middle bin in this 3-bin system. The bin to the left has materials composting in it. The bin on the right is empty for turning compost into it. Photo by Rikki Hanson

Step 4: Maintaining the Bins

When the bin system is set up, maintaining them is a breeze. Keep a compost bucket in your kitchen for the valuable food scraps and empty them into a bin when you turn your pile every 2-3 weeks.

You have two bins to work with, so if you want to dispose of your scraps sooner, go for it! Or you can store the food scraps in the freezer until you’re ready to turn.

For every new nitrogen/green material you add, you also want to add double the amount of carbon/brown material every time you turn the piles.

Ask friends and neighbors for their leaves to help you while diverting their organic materials from the landfill.

Step 5: Collecting the Compost

After you’ve turned the materials in your bins for a few weeks, you’ll see the raw materials have turned into a rich brown compost. Congratulations! You now have the most sought-after soil amendment money can buy.

Now’s the time to use chicken wire, ¼-inch mesh, old fireplace screen or a laundry basket to sift the compost. The compost can be as fine or as chucky as you want depending on where you want to use it and how much of it you want to use or give away.

Need Answers to Your Composting Questions?

CSU Extension-Denver Master Gardeners can answer your composting questions or direct you to other local resources: email denvermg@colostate.edu or call 720-913-5278.

Meet the Garden Squad—Gardening Help at the Denver Botanic Gardens

Meet the Garden Squad is a way to get better acquainted with some of our CSU Extension Master Gardener volunteers.

Meet the Gardening Help Volunteers

The CSU Extension Master Gardeners usually pick up the gardening helpline at the Denver Botanic Gardens or answer questions when people walk-in the door. Even though buildings at DBG are closed for now, gardeners can still get their gardening questions answered by Gardening Help from Colorado Master Gardeners at Denver Botanic Gardens, only remotely.

The interest in gardening has soared ever since people have had to hunker down at home and find ways to keep busy. First-time gardeners will likely have questions on how to get started, what to plant now, what can grow in containers, and much more.

Even gardeners with some experience have questions, too. All gardening questions can be emailed to gardeninghelp@botanicgardens.org and a CMG, working remotely, will reply by email.

Gardening Help volunteers include: Back row, left to right: Jan Fahs, Jan Davis, Ken Zwenger, Mark Zammuto, Gordon Carruth, Fran Hogan
Middle row: Lynne Conroy, Harriet Palmer Willis, Kathleen Schroeder, Leona Berger, Cindy Hanna, Mary Adams, Nancy Downs
Kneeling: Dee Becker, Charlotte Aycrigg, Jan Moran
Not pictured: Mary Carnegie, Linda Hanna, Maggie Haskett, April Montgomery, Ann Moore, Kathy Roth, Amy White

Gardening Help is a project of the CSU Extension-Denver Master Gardeners at the DBG. Volunteers provide reliable and research-based information to thousands of home gardeners each year.

Volunteers commit to at least one year in the role, with a minimum of six shifts spread across the year. The commitment starts early in the year with an orientation and training from Nancy Downs, project coordinator.

Many volunteers are GH regulars and they return to the project every year. In addition to being an active CMG, they have to satisfy DBG volunteer requirements, too. That means they’re a member of the DBG and enrolled there as a volunteer.

Some of the key characteristics of GH volunteers are good research, plant identification and diagnostic skills. Because the project is located at DBG, volunteers need to keep on top of what’s blooming at the DBG by season, so they can answer common questions that might pop up.

Photo provided by Nancy Downs

Text by Jodi Torpey
Master Gardener volunteer since 2005

No More Buds? Turn to Earbuds.

By this time in the year, I’m at the point of good riddance! with the weeds and careful tending (shout out to this cold spell for sealing the deal). Pretty much everything is done and put to bed. I then spend the next two weeks really dialing into my houseplant game before I get bored and start Spring dreaming. My Fall break from the garden is short-lived so I start listening to old episodes of now-defunct podcast series and dream with new ones.  Here are a few of my favs:

Gardenerd Tip of The Week

Gardenerd.com is the ultimate resource for garden nerds. We provide organic gardening information whenever you need it, helping you turn land, public space, and containers into a more satisfying and productive garden that is capable of producing better-tasting and healthier food.

https://gardenerd.com/

My thoughts: The host lives in LA, so this one is great for winter listening as we get chillier, I love hearing about the warmth of Southern California and what’s coming into season. Interviews with other experts and educators in the horticulture field discussing plants, but also cultivating grains, discussing bees, and seeds. Each episode ends with the guest’s own tips, many of which are news to me and have been incorporated into my own practices. 

On the Ledge

I’m Jane Perrone, and I’ve been growing houseplants since I was a child, caring for cacti in my bedroom and growing a grapefruit from seed; filling a fishtank full of fittonias and bringing African violets back from the dead.

https://www.janeperrone.com/on-the-ledge

Houseplants, if new to the podcast start here for an overview, and guidance.

Jane is a freelance journalist and presenter on gardening topics. Her podcast has a ton of tips for beginners, and more advanced info for longtime houseplant lovers, as well as interviews with other plant experts. The website is also useful to explore the content of an episode if you aren’t able to listen. I could spend an entire morning traveling in and out of the archives. 

My thoughts: As the growing season comes to a close, my indoors watering schedule starts wobbling between what the plants need and my summer habits of watering too many times per week–welcome back,  fungus gnats! Here’s an entire episode on them

Plant Daddy Podcast

We aim to create a listener community around houseplants, to learn things, teach things, share conversations with experts, professionals in the horticulture industry, and amateur hobbyists like ourselves. We also want to bring the conversation beyond plants, since anybody with leaf babies has a multitude of intersectional identities. We, ourselves, are a couple gay guys living in Seattle, Washington, with a passion for gardening and houseplants. A lot of our friends are the same, though each of us has a different connection, interest, and set of skills in this hobby, demonstrating a small amount of the diversity we want to highlight among plant enthusiasts.

https://plantdaddypodcast.com/

My thoughts: Plants are visual, podcasts are auditory- episodic overviews with links to viewable content available on their website. Are you also seeing Staghorn Ferns everywhere? They have an entire episode (photos included!) on the fern and how to properly mount it for that vegan taxiderm look. Matthew and Stephen are self-identified hobbyists with a passion for plants all the way down to the Latin–it’s impressive.

Epic Gardening

The Epic Gardening podcast…where your gardening questions are answered daily! The goal of this podcast is to give you a little boost of gardening wisdom in under 10 minutes a day. I cover a wide range of topics, from pest prevention, to hydroponics, to plant care guides…as long as it has something to do with gardening, I’ll talk about it on the show!

https://www.epicgardening.com/

My thoughts: The Netflix-episode-when-you-just-don’t-feel-like-a-movie kind of podcast. Addresses the best varietals, composting, soil pH, and troubleshooting some common issues in the garden. With daily episodes archived back to December 2018, there is a quickly digested thought for some of your own curiosities. The website is also a wealth of knowledge. 

Eatweeds Podcast: For People Who Love Plants

Eatweeds: An audio journey through the wonderful wild world of plants. Episodes cover modern and ancient ways wild plants have been used in human culture as food, medicine and utilitarian uses.

http://eatweeds.libsyn.com/

My thoughts: most recent episode (and appropriately timed!)  On edible acorns. My fav topics include foraging and wild yeast fermentation; and when I really start missing the Pacific Northwest, The Wild and Wonderful World of Fungi sends me back to a misty forest wander politely decorated by les champignons. Posting of this pod is sporadic–only 25 episodes since 2014.

You Bet Your Garden

(no longer on air, but archives available)

 

You Bet Your Garden® was a weekly radio show and podcast produced at WHYY through September, 2018. The show’s archive is available online. It was a weekly syndicated radio show, with lots of call-ins. This weekly call-in program offers ‘fiercely organic’ advice to gardeners far and wide.

https://www.wlvt.org/television/you-bet-your-garden/

My thoughts: Host, Mike McGrath, spends much of the show taking calls and troubleshooting, reminiscent of another public radio behemoth with Click and Clack, the Tappet brothers. McGrath incorporates a lifetime of organic gardening tips with humor. McGrath features one tip to find a local “rent a goat place” (no joke) to get goats to eat the most troublesome weeds to a concerned caller considering setting much of her yard on fire.

Cultivating Place: Conversations on Natural History and the Human Impulse to Garden

Jennifer Jewell, the founder of Jewellgarden and Cultivating Place, achieves this mission through her writing, photographs, exhibits about and advocacy for gardens & natural history and through her weekly public radio program and podcast Cultivating Place: Conversations on Natural History and the Human Impulse to Garden, on gardens as integral to our natural and cultural literacy.

https://www.cultivatingplace.com/

My thoughts: sort of like On Being, but for gardening.

A fav episode:

If you aren’t so sure about this podcast thing, and just want a place to start, start here.

Do you really need a brain to sense the world around you? To remember? Or even learn? Well, it depends on who you ask. Jad and Robert, they are split on this one. Today, Robert drags Jad along on a parade for the surprising feats of brainless plants. Along with a home-inspection duo, a science writer, and some enterprising scientists at Princeton University, we dig into the work of evolutionary ecologist Monica Gagliano, who turns our brain-centered worldview on its head through a series of clever experiments that show plants doing things we never would’ve imagined. Can Robert get Jad to join the march?

https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/smarty-plants

Five Nature Activities to Do With Children in Winter

Want to share your love for nature and plants with children this winter? Here are five activities to spark curiosity, teach and amuse.

Adopt an insect-eating plant. The Venus Flytrap (Dionaea muscipula) is fascinating to watch as it traps spiders and insects for its meals. This animation explains the process.

Start a worm farm. It’s a fun way to learn about the composting process and add to the garden later in the year. All that’s needed is a plastic lined or wood box with a lid, vegetable scraps, shredded newspaper and a few red wriggler worms. Kept moist and cool, the worms will get to work making valuable compost.  Find full instructions here.

Plant a terrarium or fairy garden. Assemble a collection of small plants in an open-topped container or create an imaginative, kid-friendly scene with structures and characters – perhaps a park for superheroes or dinosaurs! Children love to play in the dirt, so this makes for great hands-on learning of planting basics. Stick to easy to grow, petite plants and add a bottom layer of pebbles if using containers without drainage holes. 

Feed the birds. Gather some pine cones and tie a string to the top of each, slather with peanut butter, then roll in bird seed. Hang in a nearby tree and watch the feast begin.

Sprout an avocado pit. Stick the perimeter of an avocado seed with toothpicks and suspend it, rounded side down in a glass of water. Watch for roots followed by a green shoot. Avocado is a fast growing plant and will soon need to be transplanted into soil.

What nature activities do you do with children?

Images:  Bing Images (Royalty Free)

Written by: Linda McDonnell, a Denver County Master Gardener

 

 

Sheet Mulching Re-visited

Last week’s blog included a link back to our October 2016 blog on experimenting with sheet mulching (also known by some as “lasagne gardening”) http://wp.me/p5JEJY-YZ so I thought we ought to re-visit and see how that worked. Sheet mulching is the layering of different kinds of compostable garden waste (sometimes with old newspapers or cardboard as well) on the surface of poor garden soil. The aim is to quickly add organic matter to the existing soil, improving drainage, water retention and fertility.

I had several questions in my mind last fall when this experiment was carried out:

1. Will the cardboard decompose?
2. Is the “green” and “brown” balance right?
3. Will the raccoons and skunks churn it all up?
4. Will there be a crop of new weeds from the imported materials?
5. Will the cold Colorado winter simply stop any decomposition from taking place?
6. Will there just be a smelly slimy heap to remove next spring?
7. OR, will we have achieved that elixir of gardening – fertile, well-drained, moisture-retentive soil???

The experiment has been going on for some eight months now and these are the answers, so far:

1. YES. Some digging about at the base of the layers revealed no sign of cardboard except for a few stray bits of plastic tape that didn’t get removed when I broke down the cardboard boxes.
2. Probably YES. Though close inspection revealed that in some parts the grass clippings were laid too thick and would have done better if they’d been mixed in more with the dried leaves.
3. NO. Apart from a few little exploratory digs by some critters, the layers remained intact.
4. NO. Initially there was some germination from seeds (unidentified grass/cereal) which were in the chicken coop material I used, but these were easily pulled in the first couple of weeks. Since then not a single weed has appeared.
5. NO. Digging into the layers revealed pretty well composted good, brown material though not everywhere. Lots of worms too. Straw seems to have been the hardest to break down and is still recognizable in some places.
6. NO. See 5.
7. Well, MAYBE ….

The native grey clay soil is still there beneath the sheet mulch

Well on the way to being compost

There is no doubt that we now have deep layers of composted garden waste on our borders. The layers have not been totally absorbed into the soil below. They have shrunk in depth by a couple of inches which is probably mainly due to gravity and the reduction of air pockets. I accept that these borders may remain as “raised” borders for some time.

So, what happens next? I expect these sheet mulched borders to continue to decompose over the summer and, perhaps, by next spring will no longer be “raised”.

But I can’t wait until then to get new plants in.  Already, I have a planted a Japanese maple and some hellebores in one of the beds (both should benefit from the rich compost.  I dug holes in the compost layers, put in some native soil from elsewhere in the garden and planted and watered.

I was concerned that the compost itself would not hold the plant roots securely which is why I mixed in garden soil from elsewhere to give weight. It will also provide mineral nutrients that may not be present in the compost/mulch. Now, some six weeks later, the new plants are all well rooted and looking good.

Japanese maple and hellebores just planted

So, is it worth doing? I’m giving the experiment a qualified “yes” at this stage.

I think it works for areas that have been neglected or are being cultivated for the first time. There is an initial effort in gathering the materials and building the sheet mulch layers, but then you just sit back and wait.

Does one big “hit” of compostable material work better than cumulative additions over the years? I don’t know. Time will tell as I compare these borders with others in the garden. Certainly, I got a lot more compost onto the borders than I could generate annually from my compost bins. (You don’t get a lot of kitchen waste from two people; and a modest-sized, young garden doesn’t produce much waste either.)

It might have been less work to simply go out and buy bags of compost from the garden center or big box store. That would have been expensive (my materials were all free). There are no regulations on what goes into bagged compost for retail sales.  At least I knew exactly what was in mine.

Aside from these thoughts, there has definitely been a great sense of satisfaction in doing the experiment.  It was interesting.  It was good exercise.  It was free.  I turned what other people thought was just rubbish messing up their yards into useful, re-vitalizing material for our garden and plants.

Anne Hughes/A Denver County Master Gardener

Fall: The Science of Color and Options for Clean-up

In Colorado and many other states in the US, we enjoy fabulous fall color in our gardens, parks and wilder landscapes.  We notice it most on trees, but many shrubs and other plants change color in the fall too.  Have you ever wondered where all that color comes from?  Why do the leaves drop off the trees?  And what use are all those huge drifts of dead leaves to us?

Color

Most plants have green leaves.  This is because chlorophyll in the leaves absorbs the red and blue parts of the light spectrum but reflects green light-waves so we see “green”.  Chlorophyll is used in photosynthesis.  This is the chemical process by which plants convert light, carbon dioxide and water into oxygen and carbohydrates – i.e. food for the plant. Chlorophyll is an unstable compound and the plant continuously replenishes it throughout summer when good sunlight and high temperatures prevail.

When temperatures cool and nights lengthen, chlorophyll production stops and so does photosynthesis (the plant’s food production system). As the green-reflecting chlorophyll disappears, other colors “appear.”  In fact, these colors were always present in the leaves but now they are no longer masked by the green light-waves reflecting from the chlorophyll.

Carotenoids absorb blue-green and blue light and reflect yellow light waves.  This is perceived by the human eye as yellow or greenish-yellow.  This is why the fall color of birches and aspens is yellow.

Anthocyanins absorb blue-green, blue and green light and reflect red light-waves.  This is perceived by the human eye as red through to purple.  This is why the fall color of red oaks, sumacs and some maples is red.

Acer tartaricum ‘Hot Wings’ still green

Acer tartaricum ‘Hot Wings’ turning red

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The depth and shades of fall color depend not only on the presence (or absence) of these pigments, but also the temperature and sunlight available.  Low temperatures and bright sunlight destroy chlorophyll.  So, falls with dry, sunny days and dry, cool nights tend to produce the best fall color.

In severely dry falls, the lack of moisture available to the plant may mean that leaves simply die without producing their usual fall colors of yellow, red or purple.  The leaves lose so much moisture that the normal chemical processes cannot continue and the leaves dry, turn brown and drop early.

The ‘Fall’

Once the spectacular show of fall color is over, deciduous (i.e. leaf-losing) trees and shrubs drop their leaves.  Cooling temperatures and lengthening nights trigger plants into sealing off the point on their stems where leaves are attached so that no more exchanges of moisture and nutrients between the leaves and the rest of the plants are possible.  This is called the “abscission layer”.  When this layer is complete, the leaves drop (or “fall”).

What use are those dead leaves?

Think about how nature deals with this “problem”.  Leaves fall from trees to the ground of the woodland, forest, mountainside, meadow – wherever they are situated.  Rain, frost, snow, the trampling of animal feet all help to break the leaves down into smaller and smaller pieces.  A huge drift of fallen leaves decreases significantly in size as air spaces between the leaves diminish.  An army of creatures from the soil surface, and from beneath it, break down the leaves further through eating and excreting them (think: earthworms, beetles) or chemically decomposing them (think: fungi, bacteria).   In this way, the dead leaves are decomposed into the tiny elements that create soil.  It’s a mixture of humus and minerals.  The humus is the last vestiges of the leaves that are hard to break down like cellulose and the minerals are the chemical components of the leaf tissue, e.g. nitrogen and carbon.

The humus and minerals help to form new soil structure in which new plants can seed, germinate, develop and continue the cycle.  The new fertile or replenished soil provides the moisture and nutrients that the now-leafless trees will need to survive winter and re-start photosynthesis and growth in spring.

How to deal with those huge piles of leaves

We’ve seen above that the dead leaves have an important part to play in the garden’s eco-system.  So, what can you do?

• Just let the leaves remain where they drop on garden beds. They provide great mulch to maintain soil temperatures and protect plant roots and will rot down over winter, improving your soil as they go.
• Leave a thin layer of leaves on lawns. Rake or blow them off (if you must) but a thin layer of leaves (especially if you run over them once or twice with the lawnmower) will break down quickly and help re-vitalize your lawn.
• Rake or blow leaves off walkways, drives and sidewalks on to adjacent garden beds, so that these hard landscape areas are visible and don’t become slippery. Do not sweep or blow leaves into the street, as they can cause serious blockages in street drainage systems.
• For a neater look, you can blow the front edge of borders clear, letting the leaves accumulate at the backs of borders and behind and below larger plants.
• Put layers of leaves in your compost bin (even better if you can run the lawnmower over them first) between your layers of green garden/kitchen waste.
• Save the leaves in plastic trash sacks (stored in an unobtrusive part of the yard) and let them rot down over winter, to be returned to the garden when they have decomposed. This leaf mold (the lovely dark brown material you get from decomposed leaves) is like “gold-dust” to the soil.
• Save the leaves in an open cage made of upright posts and chicken wire to decompose – more “gold-dust”. If you have room, let your neighbors drop their leaves in the cage too.
• BUT if leaves come from a diseased plant e.g. one with powdery mildew, black spot (roses), apple scab, anthracnose, they should be collected up and disposed of as garbage to help prevent re-infection in the next year.

Leaf cage made from old timber and chicken wire

Fallen leaves make great mulch (and are warm and cosy for the dog!)

If none of these options work for you, you can dispose of the leaves in degradable paper sacks which are usually available from your local hardware store at this time of year.  The sacks can be collected with your normal weekly trash service.  Some towns and cities will have leaf drop-off points where you can take the bags for the city to collect.  The city will then use the leaves to make leaf mold for local parks or otherwise dispose of them.  If you can’t do these things yourself, look for a local lawn service company that can, or hire a local teenager to help.

But, whatever you do, remember that the leaves really belong on the ground.  That’s nature’s way, after all.

Acer saccharinum (silver maple) turned yellow

Quercus rubra (young red oak) turned red

Anne Hughes/Denver County Master Gardener

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Worm Composting – It’s Easier Than You Think (and it’s fun)

Are you looking for something to occupy your time after your garden is put to bed and the snow starts falling? How about vermiculture (aka worm composting)? It’s easy. It’s fast. It’s year-round. It reduces kitchen scraps going to the landfill. And it provides rich compost for your garden and houseplants.

Worm box worms are not your average earthworms. The most common worms for vermiculture are Eisenia Fetida, commonly known as red wigglers. Red wigglers love kitchen scraps.  They will eat pretty much anything from your kitchen except meat and dairy products. Avoid meat and dairy because they can attract unwanted pests to your box. Some people say not to feed them citrus fruit and peppers. I have not had a problem giving them citrus or peppers as long as both mixed in with other scraps.

Red wigglers enjoying a meal of kitchen scraps

Worm composting produces rich, finished compost called worm castings. And it produces them faster than your regular compost bin. And you don’t have to turn it.  And the worm castings are richer in nutrients than regular compost. What’s not to like? The worms do all the work and you get all the rewards. It seems unfair, but the worms don’t seem to mind.

Finished worm castings

The first thing you need is a box to hold your worms. Many people make worm boxes out of Rubbermaid containers. I prefer wood boxes because I think a wood box breathes better. Worms need air. If you use Rubbermaid containers, make sure to drill plenty of holes in the container for air and drainage. I know what you are thinking – “Won’t the worms escape through the holes?” They won’t for two reasons.  They need a moist environment to live and they are photophobic (they hate light). Your dark, moist (not wet) box filled with bedding (shredded newspaper) and kitchen scraps is worm heaven for them. They are very happy right where they are.

Red wigglers dwell near the soil surface so the box does not need to be deeper than 12 to 18 inches. One foot wide by two feet long is a good size for a small household. Two feet by three feet works for a bigger household or if you have a lot of kitchen scraps.

Red wigglers like about the same temperature range as us. Not too hot and not too cold. The ideal range is 55-77 degrees Fahrenheit. A basement, laundry room, heated garage, kitchen or living room corner are all great places for a worm box. Some people are reputed to use worm boxes as coffee tables, which I suppose could help with awkward lulls in conversation – “Guess what’s under the hors d’oeuvre plate?” Worm boxes can be kept outside in warmer weather, but be careful that the box does not get too warm or too cold. A well-managed worm box is odorless and unobtrusive.

Now you need worms. One great way to get red wigglers for your box is from someone who already has a worm box. A healthy box produces a lot of worms. Most worm composters are happy to share their surplus worms with people just starting out.  You can find worms on the internet. Years ago I ordered my worms on the internet and they came in the FedEx box with air holes punched in the side with a pencil. The worms did not seem any worse for the wear and their descendants are still going strong many years later. You can also find worms for sale locally (see the link below).

A great place to learn about worm composting is Denver Urban Gardens (DUG). They have a basic worm composting outline on their website.  DUG also holds worm composting workshops in the spring and summer. The website has a link on where to get worms in the Denver area. Check the DUG website to find a class schedule for next year.  Vermiculture at DUG.

Also, check out this great YouTube video on worm composting from CSU Extension and Tagawa Gardens.  It is a good visual primer on starting a worm box.

If you really get the bug to start worm composting, the classic book Worms Eat My Garbage by Mary Appelhof is thorough guide to starting and maintaining a wormbox.

One last word of advice: don’t try to name all of them.

 

Written by Mark Zammuto, a Denver County Master Gardener