The temperature was up to 41F (5C) and I decided to take a tour of the yard area that wasn't covered in snow. Good thing I did! The shade bed under our cottonwood tree was covered in the last leaves that fell. So thick that they were smothering the Heuchera, bulbs, etc. I cleaned out all of the leaves and I don't think I lost any plants . From now on I will be more aware of this. I was hoping that such a warn day meant that winter was finally losing it's grip but...this morning there's another 2 inches of new snow.
I leave the fallen leaves on the garden every year just in case we do get cold weather they need to be protected from. Then I spend a couple of days scraping them all up in the Spring, this year I had planned to leave them and just move them away from new shoots of tender plants. But most are already coming up just fine without my intervention. But then until this week those leaves have stayed dry since we haven't had much precipitation of any kind making it easier for the shoots to pop through.
We also leave the leaves in the borders in winter. It's time for me to remove them soon. They go straight into the compost bin. Our layer isn't very thick since we've got winds shifting the leaves about.
We rake the cottonwood leaves each fall, run them through the chipper as they are larger tough leaves, 6 to 7 inches (152mm to 177mm) and mulch the gardens with them. The last of the leaves fell during to first snow fall, straight down on the one flower bed and the plants were covered totally by layer on layer of over lapping leaves which was then covered with wet heavy snow. This is the first time that has ever happened. My tulips are about 4 inches (25mm) tall and are almost white from lack of sun. The smaller tree leaves cause no problem and normally the large leaves don't either but....just this one time!
Its been a lovely weekend here with temps up to 10C Dull today; still getting frost which makes the following day lovely. Roll on Spring proper. K
