How To Reuse Yard Waste Like Leaves
While it might take a little bit of elbow grease and effort, there are different ways that organic waste and materials from your yard can be re-purposed for various “do-it-yourself" (D.I.Y.) projects. There are many types of yard waste such as stones, branches, or leaves, which can all prove to be useful materials for different D.I.Y. plans and for crafting unique designs in your landscape. This article will look at a few creative applications of using gardening waste and materials for D.I.Y. projects.
Reusing Sticks and Branches: Sticks and branches, and other debris from trees, are some of the materials commonly found in yards. If you're working on creating a new gardening bed, these sticks and branches can be used as a bottom layer. By adding these sticks to your beds, you can reduce the total amount of soil you need to add later, and doing this can help save money with making new gardening beds.
Reusing Stones and Rocks: Stones and rocks are also relatively easy to find in many yards. These stones can also be helpful D.I.Y. materials for gardening projects too. With the right sized and shaped stones, you can use them as ornaments and decorations for your gardening beds, patios, and more. Stones can also be placed at the bottom of gardening beds or indoor pots to help with water drainage and to prevent water from pooling in your pots. Doing this can reduce the amount of soil you need to add to pots as well. Overwatering can be damaging to plants since it may cause roots to rot prematurely, and so proper water drainage is often important for maintaining your plant’s health.
Reusing Fallen Leaves: Each fall, many gardeners are left with piles of dead leaves in their yards. While it might take some effort to rake up all the leaves in your yard, leaves can have many practical uses for D.I.Y. projects. In the case of composting, leaves are useful materials for creating your own rich, nutrient dense soil. Composting can take time to convert leaves to dirt, but is often a great and cost effective way to produce your own soil. These leaves can be used as brown material for composting bins and different composting projects. Browns, such as leaves, are typically carbon dense materials and can provide a strong base for composting, and they are an important ingredient for making a healthy mixture. Just be sure to add greens to your composting mixes as well, which can help incorporate nitrogen into composting mixtures, on top of the carbon added from the browns.
Alternatively, like with branches, you can also rake and use your dead leaves as a layer for new gardening beds. First add any sticks or branches to the bottom of your gardening bed. Next, you get to add the leaves. As an optional step, you can kickstart the decomposition process for the leaves to try and break them down quicker. To do so, you can begin by chopping them up. You can begin by grabbing a tool, such as a shovel or rake, and then use it to stir up and disintegrate the leaves. This step can be important, because it chopped leaves are easier for decomposers, such as bugs, bacteria, and fungi to break down. Next, you can get a hose and add water to soften the leaves. By adding moisture to the leaves, you can encourage the chopped up leaves to break down further. Water and moisture is helpful because it provides better living conditions for decomposers like worms, which need the water to live. Over time, the browns and greens will eventually break down, until you are left with a fresh batch of dirt.
Reusing yard waste and materials can an interesting way to bolster your landscaping plans, but it can also just be a way to save on different supplies like soil and fertilizer, and it can prevent wasting supplies for outdoor projects.
