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| From In the Garden |
Quite a while back another blogger and I were talking of all the falling leaves in our gardens and we were wondering just how many leaves were falling. I also know many of us are still raking leaves and composting them, or shredding them or whatever we do with them. Have you ever wondered just how many leaves have fallen in your yard? Just look at part of my backyard-there are tons of leaves laying all about here at Tiger Gardens. What a mess! I will eventually get around to raking them all and piling them in gardens or in the compost bin but for now they are just here in the garden.
Well, I can't tell you how many leaves have fallen for sure in my garden or yours but I found an interesting article that provides a mathematical method of figuring out just how many leaves have fallen. I subscribe to Dave's Garden's Weekly newsletter and found a very worthy article by Bev Walker in which she discusses how to mathematically figure out some statistics about leaves. Have you ever wondered how much leaves weigh? How much nitrogen and carbon leaves provide for the garden? Well then check out the article by Bev Walker.
You all have a super day and don't fry the brains working on math problems....
in the garden....
Nearly everything has fallen here, except for my neighbor's oak tree. It hangs onto leaves until it sees me clean up my beds, afterwhich it sheds a new batch so it looks as if I did nothing. This will go on into March.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately I have more to still fall here. We try to keep up with them in stages. I'd say most of them go in my garden though which makes for a nice winter's mulch. I need to add some to my compost bins this week. I'm not even going to try the math, it's too early....lol
ReplyDeleteTina girl ... you know that saying "Too much information" ?? LOL
ReplyDeleteI know that we have more and more leaves falling every year because the trees are maturing and growing my leaves on new branches etc .. husband mows them into mulch and I do rake and bag some .. 10 big bags this time .. but .. I also leave some on the perennial beds to protect the plants as much as possible .. so the need to know how many leaves have fallen ? NOPE!!
Don't NEED to know that one girl ! LOL
Joy : )
I don't think I want to know how many leaves have fallen....too many here at my house. Carla
ReplyDeleteI just know A LOT of leaves have and are still falling...that's my redneck math!
ReplyDeleteI don't need to know how many have fallen. I wish I had more to feed my soil for another season. I have not yet resorted to raking them from other people's gardens.
ReplyDeleteI like the photo of your garden. Without the leaves on the trees I can see all the open space behind your place with the rolling hills. Very nice.
That article is really interesting. Leaves are a gift, not a menace. Scientific studies have shown that you can mow up to 18" of leaves and leave them right on your lawn to benefit your lawn (see my post earlier in November). Any reamining ground leaves can be used directly as mulch on beds. Thanks for this timely topic. Carolyn
ReplyDeleteI know that I don't have enough leaves in my garden at home. I have to import them from the neighbor's yard. Hopefully, in a few years, that scenario will change since I've added some swamp chestnut oaks, cypress, and a couple of fig trees this year. My favorite leaves for adding to the garden are from the live oaks (we only have one, not very big, in our yard), but they don't fall until spring. They're relatively small, so they don't smother seedlings and they tend to decay fairly quickly. Speaking of Dave's Garden, have you thought of writing an article for the site, Tina? You should, you know.
ReplyDeleteWe have leaves for the first time --it certainly has been a new task to deal with. Charlie chops the ones up that are on the lawn and my gardens are kind of a woodland setting anyway....so I am just leaving them. I will read the article you linked.
ReplyDeleteGood morning all! It is a frigid morning in Tennessee indeed. Brrr!
ReplyDeleteLes, Yes indeed you know nature is just watching and waiting for a chuckle at our expense:)
Racquel, Yup, I agree on the math even if it is not too early it is a lot of work! But to know just how many fall is intriguing. So glad you use yours in the gardens.
Joy, I agree totally but the resource is out there for those who wish to know. 10 bags of leaves is a great haul!
Carla, Nature's way of replenishing and such a good thing. Come spring they'll all be gone:)
Darla, Chuckle, chuckle!
GSS, Time to go get some from the curb or from Freecycle. People love others to come and get their leaves. I persuade them to rake them-that is something I won't do but I'll gladly take them away.
Carolyn, Hello and welcome! Leaves are indeed a gift. I love them on my beds but have to be careful with the pesky voles-as they love them too. I do leave some on the lawns as well. They are such wonderful amendments.
W2W, Those trees you've planted will be a valuable addition in the future. Love the shade-and leaves, though hubby hates leaves. No, I don't think I'd want to write for Dave's Garden. TC does so occasionally and I think he likes it but I like no strings or whatever attached to my garden writing. Blogging is so perfect for that. Though, if they pay....
Janet, You have the perfect situation-lots of areas to rake the leaves too. The soil must be awesome to dig in.
I'll let you do the math, Tina:) All I know is that although we raked a lot of leaves, there are still more on the ground in certain spots. Now they're under a foot of snow, so I don't think I'll get them raked up for awhile!
ReplyDeleteHahaha good soil??? What a great sense of humor! Clay!! RED CLAY is what I have to garden in. Maybe in a few years I will have enough compost to amend all the beds, but, no, we do not have good soil.
ReplyDeleteI just hope most of mine get blown next door!
ReplyDeleteI have NENER raked leaves. I figure they do a good job right where they are by insulating the ground for the winter. In the spring Papa does some raking.
ReplyDeleteThat is a lot of figures and math. Math was my favorite thing in high school but that seems like mind boggling stuff to me. Did you figure out your numbers? If so, you should have posted them.
It takes the red oaks forever to lose all their leaves! We will still be raking in spring---ugh!! :)
ReplyDeleteThe snow came down before I could rake all my leaves up and then there were more leaves which came down on top of the snow, the first time I can remember that happening.
ReplyDeleteStill lots of leaves on the ground here and on our roof. Our neighbor's willow is still loosing it's leaves and many find their way to our yard. Since I don't really have anywhere for piles of leaves I just wait until the yard waste bin has been emptied and then will be out raking again.
ReplyDeleteHi Tina, will go to that linked article later. I just am thinking that maybe during autumn and winter maybe it would be more difficult in your part of the world to get newly generated oxygen, because there are no leaves at all. And there will be a lot of carbon dioxide from animals and decomposing organic matter, which makes it more healthy for the spring bloom. That is essentially carbon dioxide enrichment, as nothing uses carbon dioxide during those seasons. This is just my logic, Tina, hehe. Or maybe the oxygen generated by the tropical climes are blown towards your area in winter, and we also get a double doze of carbon monoxide emissions.
ReplyDeleteI am debating on going to the article because I am not so sure I really want to have an answer to this question. My answer is 'too many'.
ReplyDeleteRose, Come the big thaw and those leaves will be nothing but a memory.
ReplyDeleteJanet, Keep stacking the leaves and give a few years...time is the precious commodity here:)
Dawn, Ha! Hope you are feeling well!
Mom, No, didn't figure out my leaves. One of these days when I have nothing better to do-was fascinated there was a way to do so though.
Linda, Total bummer! It would be so much easier if all the leaves fall at one time for sure.
Helen, Very odd, but the snow might help those leaves decompose faster-that is a good thing. Stay warm in the deep freeze.
Catherine, Raking sure seems to an ongoing thing but it's not such a bad thing-even if it's the neighbor's leaves:)
Andrea, Never thought of the oxygen producing qualities of leafless trees before. Hmmm, you make total sense though. We do still have trees with leaves and other green stuff but the meat and potatoes of our oxygen producers is missing most of its capacity for sure. I wonder if oxygen does go down? Then again I think in colder weather oxygen is more abundant so it makes up for less leaves? Very very interesting and I think I'd have to an genetic scientist to figure it all out-but I'd like to!
GWGT, Don't go unless you are ready to really work your brain. It is an in depth method that takes time. We all know lots of leaves have fallen and for now that is good enough I think.
Hey again Tina, after reading the article, i dont like it. For one, when the world has long been using metric, they don't. I seem to be a bit confused with your answer too, or maybe i didn't just get what you mean. The leaves produce oxygen which animals breath, and plants use CO2 for manufacturing their food, so if the balance is not equal, what then! The other side of the equation gets heavier and something is sacrificed. The plant physiologists in the university and in the research centers know the answers, not the genetic engineers Tina. If they were able to compute the amount of light in photons an average plant needs, also the carbon dioxide it needed, then i am sure many of them know how to properly compute it. There is such thing as photosynthetic rate and respiration rate of plants, and that helps them compute. My problem is in the balance of oxygen and carbon dioxide present or absent during autumn and winter! Where do the animals get their oxygen, or is there such a thing as modified atmosphere in countries with these seasons. Oh i will try to ask a blogging botanist in UK first, i hope he replies. hahaha!
ReplyDeleteThat's the word I was looking for Andrea-plant physicist. I knew it was there somewhere. I don't understand all the oxygen in the atmosphere and how it works but even in winter the north has oxygen producing plants-think evergreen trees, grasses-even houseplants. It is interesting to think about how the oxygen is distributed; which may have something to do with the jet stream and air currents. I'm just glad we have oxygen and plants and can breathe. A good thing for us all.
ReplyDeleteThis is something that makes my brains hurt, math.
ReplyDeleteAll I know, is that when I bring home bags of leaves stolen off the curb, the elk steal the leaves from me for a midwinter snack.
I wish I had these leaves for my compost... ok, and just to roll around in. They look like hours of fun! :)
ReplyDeleteWe have tons and tons of leaves on our land! Luckily with dropping some trees, we have less Gum Balls this year! Yippeeeeeeee...
ReplyDelete