Eastwood Park Reporter

The two main tasks involved in getting the garden ready for winter are water everything and steal your neighbor's leaves. Both of these tasks are best carried out in the evening so as not to waste a perfectly good fall day in unnecessary labor.

Trees and shrubs, especially evergreens, need a long, slow soak. A mechanical water timer comes in handy for this task. Imagine a circle on the ground around the tree that is nearly as wide as the tree's branches. In theory, most of the tree roots lie within this circle. At intervals within this circle, use a digging fork, iron pipe or sharp stick to make a small diameter hole that is ten to twelve inches deep. Put the hose in the hole. Adjust the flow to a slow trickle. Let the water run for at least an hour. A mature tree whose roots have reached the water table can be left to take care of itself. Concentrate on the evergreens and new plantings. The lawn and perennial flower beds will benefit from an additional two or three inches of water after they have stopped growing. Well, all of that is simple enough. Let's get on with the serious task of leaf stealing.

To the Sensible Gardener, leaves are an invaluable source of free food for the hungry garden and a biodegradable blanket for a cold winter. Wrapping leaves in plastic and sending them to the Siberia of the landfill is an unnatural act. The local chapter of Greenpeace should be flinging themselves in front of garbage trucks. Leaf stealing is a moral act.

The first leaves that fall on the lawn can simply be mulched in place. Cut the lawn a little shorter than usual at first, then set the mower high enough that the blade is above the grass and pulverize the leaves and dry lawn clippings with repeated passes. As the leaf harvest progresses, rake the leaves into lines next to the flower beds, use the lawn mower to shred them into the beds. A covering of dry, shredded leaves several inches deep will hold the soil moisture and insulate the soil against the rapid temperature changes that can damage plants. In the spring, the application of a high nitrogen fertilizer at the rate recommended on the package for lawns will aid the leaves to decay and feed the flower beds.

Most perennial plants that grow in the shade are well adapted to being covered by a blanket of leaves. The leaves that fall here can be left unshredded. Avoid the practice of cutting back garden plants to the ground in the fall. Leave plenty of stubble to hold the leaves and snow in place over the winter. Save back a few bags of leaves to use as wind breaks to control snow drifting. With a little thought and experimentation, snow can be encouraged to drift on the garden instead of the sidewalk. Used Christmas trees are also useful as snow fencing. Well, by now you get the drift of this diatribe, a blanket of leaves in the fall and some nitrogen fertilizer in the spring and the leaf pollution problem is solved. Now to find something ecologically sound to do with all the stolen plastic bags.