Farmers have harvested their fall yield of potatoes, peppers, squash, and pumpkins. Now it’s time for you to harvest “black gold” from your winter lawn. According to Arboretum Plant Information Specialist Doris Taylor, fallen leaves make excellent winter mulch.

We’ve all heard the benefits of mulch in the warm months. Several inches of compost, shredded wood chips, or other organic matter can keep soil moist and attract beneficial organisms that enrich soil.

While not necessary for all plants, winter mulching also can protect tender or less hardy plants from the freeze-thaw cycles that can cause them to prematurely pop out of the ground. This is called “frost heaving.”

Good plants to mulch in winter are alumroot, lady’s mantle, lambs ears, ferns, small bulbs like crocus and snow drops, as well as plants next to concrete. Young trees planted this year can also benefit from winter mulching.

Taylor says making leaves into mulch is a simple process. Rake leaves from healthy trees in a pile, mow over them a few times, and collect them in trash bins or garbage bags. (Leaves from diseased trees should be thrown away.) After the ground has frozen in December, apply the mulch around your plants.

“Timing is critical. You don’t want to apply mulch too early,” says Taylor. “Otherwise it may delay the soil from freezing, when your plants need to go dormant.”

Come spring, “you can remove some of the mulched leaves if they are too thick,” says Taylor, “but let most of them decompose where they are.”

Look for more info on other late-fall garden cleanup tasks. And don’t forget your tree talk community wants to hear from you. Tell us about the plants you mulch in the winter, what your winter mulch “recipe” is, and, in your experience, what other plants frost heave.

A winter mulch provides for a bountiful spring garden.

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