How to Use Autumn Leaves to Protect Perennials

The decomposition of autumn leaves makes for great compost. When added to your flower bed, the breakdown creates rich minerals that get absorbed into the soil, creating excellent growing conditions for your plants. Adding autumn leaves to your flower bed in the fall will not only encourage growth in the spring, but protect your precious perennials from the bitter cold of winter. The autumn leaves will create a blanket of warmth that will insulate your perennials so that they can continue their cycle of growth in the future.

Things You'll Need

• Autumn leaves
• Rake
• Short wire fencing
• Perennial flower bed
• Hose
• Mulching mower
• Tarp

Instructions

1. Prepare your perennial flower bed for the following spring season by removing any weeds, dead-heading your flowers and removing any annuals that are left in the flower bed. This should be done before you provide your perennials with their leaf protection, and completing the process will make the maintenance of your flower bed much easier in the coming spring.

2. Rake your yard and place all of your autumn leaves into a pile. This can be done however and whenever you would normally do your fall yard maintenance. Just be sure that it is before the first frost.

3. Wet the pile of leaves with your hose until they are slightly damp. The leaves do not need to be saturated, but just wet enough so that they won’t blow away when you are covering the perennials. If it has just rained, this step will obviously not be necessary.

4. Take a handful of leaves from the pile and begin to gently place the leaves around the perennial plants. This should be done starting at the base of the plant’s stem, carefully picking up more leaves and expanding your leaf blanket out towards the other perennials in the flower bed. You should end up with a nice even layering of leaves surrounding the bottom areas of all of the plants.

5. Continue the process by adding a thicker layer of leaves upon the previous layer, until all of the perennials are covered completely. Your leaf protection should be approximately five inches in thickness or more, depending upon the height of your perennials.

Tips & Warnings

• When you remove your annuals from the flower beds, you may want to take a few pictures as a reminder of the layout for the following spring.

• Putting up a short wire fence surrounding your leaf protected perennials will help keep your leaves in place during windy times.

• Raking the leaves into smaller piles, and then mulching them before placing them over your perennials will make them easier to spread.

• If you have any extra leaves left over, consider placing them in your garden to enrich the soil.

• If you usually do your yard work in the earlier part of the fall season, cover your raked leaves with a tarp and wait until later in the autumn to cover your perennials. You do not want to cover them before they have had a chance to begin dormancy.