Autumn in the KY Garden

Autumn in the Kentucky Garden

Autumn is a beautiful time in Kentucky gardens, but it can also be a messy time. The season brings piles of leaves from our trees and spent shoots from our flower beds.


The way we address this yard waste can have a significant impact on our gardens and the environment. Gardeners commonly rake up and bag leaves to be hauled away to yard waste dumps.


This option, while tidy, uses a lot of energy, both yours and the energy to transport the leaves and mixed garden waste.


Mulching leaves and yard waste is another option. Why not use this bountiful resource to enrich your lawn and garden and create less waste and air pollution?


A very simple technique with leaves is to rake them into a line and mow over them with your lawn mower.


The mower will chop the leaves into pieces small enough to fall between the blades of grass in your lawn. The chopped leaves will break down out of sight and provide nutrients to your lawn and improve the quality of your soil.


For larger items like spent flower stalks, composting is a simple, easy and environmentally friendly option. Proper composting produces no odor and provides you with a generous amount of nutrient-rich organic compost for your garden which reduces or eliminates the need to buy fertilizer.


Composting also eliminates the need to transport garden waste, making composting a triple-win situation for your garden, wallet and the environment.


The speed of compost production is influenced by the size of the material placed in the bin, so the more you can chop up the garden debris, the quicker you will have usable compost. Many options for compost bin design and construction are well suited to any location and budget.


Turning leaves into mulch has many benefits. The mulch helps retain moisture in the soil and insulates plants from extreme winter temperatures. The decomposed leaves become an excellent conditioner for warming spring soil helping to attract worms and other beneficial microorganisms.


For more information on mulching and composting, contact the Hardin County Cooperative Extension Service via email: Amy.Aldenderfer@uky.edu, webpage: www.hardinhort.org. or phone: 270.765.4121

Too little time

Oh Boy, not only is the temperature getting hotter, the office is getting busier! Today, workers ripped up the tile floor in the big meeting room and are now ready to put down new tile! I'm hoping that this floor lasts longer than the last Only 10 years). The doors are gone and are going to be moved to where the windows are. No one will know where to enter! (Someone will have to boost the signage!)

Plants this week are looking for some water! Spotty showers are not enough to slake the thirst of the not-so-native plants in the garden. Slow and steady will be the best way to water. Most natives and established plants will be OK with the occasional thunder shower.

I still have not found the time to install the three rain barrels that I purchased back in June! I have too many irons to juggle. (Sorry about the mixed metaphor!) I won't have any time after hours because I have to CLEAN THE HOUSE. The parents are coming to drop off a piece of furniture, and I WILL NOT BE EMBARRASSED by the way my house looks! I've enlisted the help of friends to help sort the quilt cave and (I hope) all my clothes. Is that asking too much of friendship?