Happy New Year to everyone!
I enjoyed forcing my first amaryllis bulb this holiday season. It certainly was nice to have some color inside the house.Heaven knows there's certainly not much going on outside. Everything's brown and dead -- yes, even down here in Zone 8. We had a couple of nights in the teens just before Christmas, so now the garden is brown and crispy. I expect it's much the same where you live.
But there's still a lot to do, and I'm happily preparing for the much-anticipated Spring of 2005! Here are some things I will -- and you can -- be doing during the doldrums of winter to be ready for the approaching springtime.
Name: Tamara...Occupation: Leaf Thief
For the past several months, I've taken on an additional title, as I do every fall and winter: Leaf Thief.Despite tremendous strides made in organic gardening education, people still insist on performing the insane ritual of bagging the leaves from their lawn and putting them out in the garbage. What a terrible waste of both leaves and bags!
So, I've no choice but to steal them. When driving down a suburban street, I'll pull over and snitch bags of leaves right off the sidewalk. No one's leaves are safe. My habit has gotten so bad, the weekly landscapers at my office building now just go ahead and put a couple of bags by my car. (Sometimes they're even nice enough to help me stuff the bags into the trunk.)
Ideally, homeowners should just mow over yard leaves and let them break down into the turf naturally. If you've got a large amount of leaves that forms a thick matt after mowing, scoop these up and toss them into your flower and vegetable beds. They are the best freeze protection and mulch there is. Still have extra even after covering your beds? Compost 'em. Leaves are the main ingredient to a healthy, nutritious compost pile.
Even better than just chopped leaves is a mixtures of leaves, grass and pine needles. This is a natural compost in the raw stages that, when placed on your garden and given time to break down, will turn into the most fabulous, fluffy, nutrient-rich soil you can imagine. The grass acts as the green "heater" that instigates breakdown in the first place. And pine needles...well, they just smell wonderful, don't they? They also help to lower soil pH and allow for good drainage. (However, if your soil test reveals higher levels of acidity, skip the pine needles.)
