25th September 2024 Bulletin

Now that we have sailed past both the autumnal equinox and the autumnal equilux (which Eco-Corner had never heard of before this week - handy explainer here), we can say with confidence that autumn is upon us.  Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, according to Keats, although the lesser-known first draft of his famous ode began with a gripe about having to rake up fallen leaves. Alas poor Keats did not have a friendly Eco Corner on hand to tell him not to bother!  For indeed this is the message of sustainable gardening tipsters everywhere: leaves are not the enemy. While it is true that a thick covering of dead leaves will take a long time to rot away, and thus is likely to kill off the grass beneath, a mere scattering can be safely left in place.  In the former case, you have various options.  The labour-intensive one is to rake or blow them into piles, gather them into aerated bags and let them break down into highly nutritious leaf mould compost.  Less exhausting options include raking/ blowing them onto verges and flowerbeds to act as compostable mulch; or running a lawnmower over them to chop them up (especially important for heavy, glossy leaves such as magnolia), and then either leaving the mulch scattered on the lawn, or adding it to your compost heap.
 
Next week is Rosh Hashanah, and Eco-Corner would like to wish the whole community a sweet and good new year. Tizku l'shanim rabot!