Mulching the Raised Garden Beds for Winter

[@Angie-ci1lp]

Thanks for sharing! Very informative

[@chrismarchetti-olson6632]

Yayyy you’re back!!! And with great advice as always. Thank you 🌷🌷🌷

[@judymiddleswart9350]

Look forward to your future updates! I love my WORKS MULCHER!!

[@jasminelouisefarrall]

I love leaf 🍁 mulch 💕

[@paulacothren3591]

I love all your product recommendations. You have intelligently tested them and I can be confident they are Matthew approved.

[@RootsandRefugeFarm]

I agree! I call him my expensive friend but when he tells me I need something, I believe him 😂

[@pamelacorsi]

I've had my WorkX for three years now and I love it. My leaves are first mulched by my mower and then I put them through the WorkX. I use them everywhere I have bare soil for the winter. Once wet the finely chopped leave don't blow away and they breakdown over our long New England winter.

[@greenthumbelina7331]

Matthew, I have an electric Worx Blower/Shredder/Vac that shreds the leaves into tinier pieces, but I don't care to deal with the bag attachment. If the bag detaches while it's running, the machine has an automatic shut-off. This is a great feature, but unfortunately, I get completely dusted and mulched when that occurs (which is frequently). Aside from that, the handy part about my Worx tool is that it's portable, so I can vac and shed the leaves where they accumulate (which is around my front door), and I can dump them right on my raised beds. Several of my garden beds have been mulched, but I still have nearly half left to mulch. I'm excited to hear that you're going to use micro clover in your raised-bed garden pathways. The website where I found micro clover has been out-of-stock, on the 5 lb bags, for a while now. What company did you order from? I really want to try to grow it in my zone 5a. Have a great week! ~Margie

[@SouthernersGarden]

I haven’t ordered any substantial amount yet. It is difficult to find! I’m hoping there’s some availability over winter.

[@greenthumbelina7331]

@@SouthernersGarden Good luck, I hope we both find the amounts we each need. I can't wait to see how it grows for you.

[@darlenehiner8719]

Matthew, I love, love, love you new intro. I have many Work tools & also really liked them. Can't wait until next Vito. Darlene from PA

[@pattiadams922]

I have the same mulcher, I got it 4 years ago. With two huge oak trees I get a lot of mulch. It’s great for all my beds, keeps the weeds down.

[@camicri4263]

Good to see you! 💡

[@traceyjackson84]

From Northwest Indiana, zone 5. Truly love your videos. Thank you, you are a light!

[@sandyg8794]

Hi Matthew! I'm playing catch up on your videos. That is a great set up for leaf mulching. Thank you so much for sharing!

[@marywilliams7977]

Love watching your videos.

[@SoilandMargaritas]

I LOVE your new intro :) I was just thinking about some sort of mulch for my veggie beds, I just finished cleaning them up yesterday... unfortunately, I think all the leaves are gone in my area, so I might have to get a few of the very fine wood mulch or something along those lines. Gorgeous video!

[@SouthernersGarden]

Thanks! 😃

[@ECole-le7we]

My next door neighbors have been giving me leaves. Coupled with mine, I had more than enough! And it is good that I know my neighbors don't use any chemicals on anything.

[@rbthegardennannyllc4219]

I enjoy your videos and today is a good day to binge. I have seen several videos with this mulch contraption and I like how easy it looks to break down and put away. I normally just blow my leaves in a pile and run them over with the mower (w/my bag attached). Empty the shredded leaves in the beds. Thanks for sharing.

[@patz780]

Your new intro to the blog is a great upgrade. Have a restful winter season. You deserve a little time to dream.

[@cantor7723]

I have a suggestion. We do the same thing with the Worx. We were easily spending $500+ yearly on compost and mulch while we have numerous maple trees and two red oaks on our property. Such a waste. Search for Sun Joe SJLB70HD 70-Gallon Jumbo Heavy-Duty All-Purpose Garden Leaf and Debris Bag, Green. The Worx sits down in the bag, so we just mulch til the bag is full. Then just drag the bag and dump it wherever. We have 3 bags, so we can do the whole yard quite fast: One spreads, one carries bags, and one shreds. Now in spring, all we need is a light coating of mulch, usually less than $50 in mulch for all our beds when on sale.

[@lauraturley5612]

I see so many gardener/homesteading videos from the South, which are great, but the weather there is so different than here in zone Indianapolis zones 5b-6a. Love seeing your garden in our similar climate. We also chop up the leaves using our lawnmower mulching and catch bag to put on our composting pile and mulch our perennials for Winter.

[@randyman8984]

Isn't he from Ohio? isn't that close to indianapolis??

[@sarennekoelsch3150]

Good morning from Northern Ohio!

[@traceyjackson84]

Also, if you please, regarding your upcoming garden tour video...you have some beautiful Arborvitae on the side of your house (I think) intermingled with some Hydrangea (I believe). Could you please show/comment on this arrangement along with spacing that you used? I just love that area!

[@garysimon8359]

Hi, I do the same with my leaves using my Honda lawnmower. So much easier than raking! One note on the micro-clover-I’ve read that it can be pollinated by Dutch clover from other lawns/wild areas, then drop seed and revert to the taller Dutch clover over time. I’m debating whether to add it to my lawn for all of the wonderful benefits, anyone with insight or experience in southwest Ohio zone 6?

[@SouthernersGarden]

This is also my understanding as with anything that is open pollinated. But, I'm willing to experiment to try it out since it's a interesting option. :)

[@charliehoos9773]

I noticed your beds against the house. Can you please explain how you installed them?

[@SouthernersGarden]

They are Earthboxes we built a ledge to sit on and then just wrapped with wood. There’s no soil or water that actually touches the home. It was just a convenient way to expand some garden space around the house.

[@kmarshall53]

I’ve been doing this here in SE PA, too. I got most of my flower beds covered thickly. Now I’ll be filling up the raised veggie beds. Just got my first seed catalog! I’m excited to start planning for next year. Enjoyed the video as usual - nifty machine and tarps!

[@michaeloconnor8315]

Great vidieo I like using leaves as well hope you have a great Christmas waveing from the north bama mountains zone 7B 8A ish

[@echo1020lukka]

Leaves are the Best addition to gardens especially those with clay soils. Think forest floor. Excellent advice Matthew!

[@debdd7]

I’m a southern Gardner, specifically OK. I have always had a mower that has a mulch feature. It actually mulches my leaves much smaller than what I saw yours do, I catch it in a bag. Have you considered that?

[@SouthernersGarden]

I have both a push mulching mower with a bag and a large rider with a bag. They're both winterized and have completed their last mow many weeks (and in this case over a month) before the leaves finish falling. I don't want to drag them out and add more fuel to them after they're already winterized. I also don't want to add potential weed seeds from the lawn into my raised beds, so I don't want lawn clippings included. That would probably be a good method if you were adding them directly to a compost to break down further and kill off any weed seeds. If you don't have completely organic lawn care it would also not be recommended to add that to your raised beds if you're into organic vegetable gardening.

[@gelwood99]

I put down the commercial grade weed barrier under and around my raised beds and I keep a broom to sweep them clean or the buildup of soil will allow weeds to grow or the blown seeds will germinate on top of the "fabric" but they are easily pulled off because they grow down and not up. I am pleased with the barrier I got from Growers Solution and it is so much better than the groundcover I had growing before I make the raised beds on the barrier. But I am a NC gardener and my climate is so much milder than yours. Leaves are a wonderful addition to any garden but we have more willow oaks than anything else and they are not ideal so we get cheap mulched and composted leaves from the town for $5 a scoop so a trailer load is only $20 saving me and my ancient body a lot of work. BTW, city trees are 99% organic since no one sprays trees with chemicals in small town NC.

[@staceyallard2692]

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