October is a great month to harvest a nutrient-rich and free soil amendment for your garden: leaves. In this case, money does grow on trees, as leaves provide both nutrients and great structure when incorporated into your garden soil. By next spring and summer, the soil will be improved with organic matter and in many cases have abundant earthworms providing castings. It’s time to “rake and roll” in October if you want your garden to have rock star status next year at little to no cost.
If you want to develop a flowering in your landscape, October is the time to exercise your option of dropping amazing orbs of promise in the soil: spring flowering bulbs. There are a wonderful variety of bulbs to choose from, all which are easy to plant and fun to grow. If you struggle with rodents nibbling on the bulbs for a winter snack, just remember to have chicken wire handy. Dig the hole and place the chicken wire in the bottom of the hole. Now situate the bulbs in the hole on top of the chicken wire. Fill with soil, and fold the chicken wire over the top. Finish filling the hole with soil. The bulb roots and stems will grow through the chicken wire and rodents will be deterred from nibbling. You may also want to consider planting some alliums. Alliums are colorful, interesting flowers in all kinds of sizes and are members of the onion family. Rodents must be self conscious about their breath, as they tend to leave them alone for other treats in nature’s buffet.
If you have a grassy area that you want to convert to a flower or vegetable bed next year but don’t have the time or energy to dig up sod, I have a solution. It’s a passive form of composting which some people call “lasagna” composting. Take the lawn area you wish to convert and cover the grass in the pattern and size of your choice in newspaper (two to four pages thick). Do it on a calm day with a garden hose so you can wet the paper. Otherwise you might find yourself chasing the classified ads all over the neighborhood. After positioning the paper, liberally cover the paper with leaves falling from the trees. I have found that Maple leaves are ideal for this purpose. You can pre-grind them with the lawn mower first if you want to speed up the decomposition process. Once the leaves are on top of the newspaper, finish up with soil placed on top of the leaves to hold them in place. Now you can “leaf” it alone and let nature take its course. The newspaper leaves and soil will suffocate the grass and the recipe will “cook” until spring for tilling into a rich tilth perfect for planting. In spring you’ll be “tilling” it like it is, and glad you did.
Take advantage of the season. Now get outside and start your rake and roll!
Rick Vuyst is CEO of Flowerland, host of the Flowerland Show on NewsRadio WOOD 1300 and 106.9 FM as well as Mr. Green Thumb on WZZM TV 13.
