Because Colorado is not one of the 23 states that ban yard waste in landfills, much of our garden waste including fallen leaves and grass clippings will be bagged in plastic, put out on the street and sent to area garbage dumps. It is estimated that as much as 33% of solid waste sent to landfills is yard waste. This is waste that can be composted and used to improve the environment.
A Colorado Master Gardener from La Plata County offers this helpful article on a form of composting called Lasagna Gardening. Sounds tasty and seems like a nifty way to use your fallen leaves and kitchen waste without too much effort.
Durango Herald News, We are now officially into fall: Lasagna gardening can now begin
Here's another idea for those leaves. How about using them for mulches and of course there is always the old-fashioned but extremely useful composting. If you don't even want to do that, how about making leaf mold. Leaf mold is a wonderful soil amendment that is made from nothing more than fall leaves with the occasional layer of garden soil or finished compost added. The pile sits for about a year, and when it's finished you have the perfect amendment for vegetable and flower gardens, as well as a fantastic addition to potting soils. Here's a link .
The bottom line, dear gardener, there are lots of ways to use our fallen leaves without adding them to the landfill!
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Tuesday, November 3, 2009
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