The leaves of the deciduous trees fall en masse in autumn and many people are bothered by the unsightly leaves. Better collect the leaves in your garden and use this precious gift!
How can you use leaves sensibly?
You can recycle leaves by composting them, shredding them and using them as fertilizer, applying them as winter protection for plants, offering them shelter and food to animals or, if the quantities are too large, disposing of them at a recycling center.
How do leaves become future fertilizer?
If youcompost the leaves, you can get free fertilizer for your garden protégés within one to two years. However, it is advisable to only add leaves to the compost that quickly rot into soil. Foliage of walnut, sycamore, oak, chestnut and poplar should not be used as, in the worst case, it can take up to five years to completely decompose. This is due to its high tannin content.
What is the quickest way for leaves to turn into soil?
After picking up the leaves in the garden and gathering them into a leaf pile, you canshred themto speed up rotting. You can also use acompost accelerator. Suitable natural compost accelerators include horn meal, grass clippings, algae lime, rock dust and kitchen waste.
How can leaves serve as shelter for animals?
You can also collect the leaves into aleaves pile and make it available to the animals. Hedgehogs and many insects like piles of leaves and like to hide in them. They use it as a hiding place and shelter for the winter time.
For which animals is the foliage suitable as food?
Even if you don't have your own garden, you can collect leaves in the fall and use them as food forPetsandFarm Animals. Rabbits, guinea pigs, goats, sheep, cattle, horses and even water snails in the aquarium enjoy eating leaves.
Can the leaves be used directly for plants?
You don't have to wait until the leaves have rotted into the ground and serve as fertilizer, but you can also use them immediately aswinter protection for plants. Frost-sensitive plants are grateful if you place a layer of leaves over their root area. This not only serves as frost protection, but also as mulching to protect the plants from drought and weeds. In addition, the foliage brings fresh humus to the plants over time. You can also spread it over entire beds and use it for potted plants.
What do I do if the amount of leaves is too much?
If you have too many leaves that you cannot recycle, you can take them to arecycling center and have them disposed of there. Alternatively, it can be put in the organic waste bin.
Tip
The lawn mower makes collecting and shredding easier
A lawnmower is a good idea to quickly collect the leaves and shred them at the same time. Simply drive the lawnmower over the leaves and let them collect in the lawnmower's container. You can then rake it underground in the bed or add it to the compost.
