We only have two small tree’s on our property – a rose of Sharon, and a lovely Japanese maple that is vibrant red at the moment. Our neighbor, however, does have a large tree – it’s a huge maple. It must be 70 or more feet tall.

As a result of the neighbors tree we have quite a few leaves to gather in our front and back yards. I don’t mind though because I’ll put the leaves on my garden beds in a week or two. Prior to putting the leaves on my garden beds I will mound some peat or compost material around the base of my roses to help protect the root balls through the winter.

Last Autumn we gathered at least 45 bags of leaves from our many neighbors on the the street. They were only too happy to give away their bags of leaves. As a result our garden was well protected with layers of leaves during the cold blustery winter days.

My husband has already asked a few neighbors if we might have their leaves this year as well. Our closest neighbor even went so far as to rake his leaves and then put two bags on our front lawn today. Now that’s service.

In the spring we take the leaves off the garden beds and put them on the lawn to dry. Once they are dry enough we run a lawn mower over them to mulch them up and put them in our compost bins to help us make nice rich compost for the garden.

I was wondering if any of my readers gather leaves to put on their garden beds? Have you had good results protecting your garden in this way?