I was asked by a reader recently what is best way to use leaf fall from deciduous trees which is happening right now.

In the past, people that had small woodlots would make a chicken wire hammock strung between two trees at waist high.

They would gather the fallen leaves in autumn and place them into the hammock.

There they would be left to age and change to ‘leaf mould,’ a valuable gardening nutrient and growing medium.

The best method to utilise fallen leaves is to collect and spread over a area of lawn where it does not matter (sight wise for them that are sight conscious) and with a rotary lawn mower, catcher on,

run over the leaves chopping them and the grass up.

Stuff the collected material into black plastic rubbish bags while spraying it with Mycorrcin as you go.

Also sprinkling calcium hydroxide (burnt lime or hydrated lime, used for preserving eggs and breaking down organic material) over the material as you stuff the bag.

Once fairly full tie off the bag and then with a nail or thin screw driver punch a lot of little holes all over the bag to aerate the contents.

Stand the bags in a sunny situation and every week or two lift the bags and give the a shake.

The material inside will be breaking down and rewarding you with rich leaf mould to use in your containers or gardens.

It is free, does not take much time to do and the end result is some of the best growing medium you could ever hope for. Magic for germinating seeds.

Now for our other topic which I have called ‘Robbers’ being an aspect that the plants, shrubs and trees will steal goodness you apply any where near them.

Raised gardens sitting on the ground will be ruined by trees that are many metres away as they find out about your created fertile raised garden.

How they find out is from the Mycorrcin fungi that attach them selves to the trees roots and spread out over great distances gathering food and moisture to feed to the tree’s roots for exchange of carbohydrates.

This wonderful relationship between plant and fungi can increase the plants gathering zone by 800%.

Now when a lot of Mycorrcin bring goodness from a certain area the tree/plant says there must be a gold mine of food over there and I want more.

So feeder roots are sent out in that direction and once at the source they multiply into a mass of fibrous feeding roots filling the area to within a few centimeters of the top of the soil.

Your raised garden is after a season useless to grow any quality vegetables and most if not all the nutrients are stollen.

The offending plant/tree with have grown much bigger thanks to your efforts.

Thus any raised garden must be placed on a concrete pad about 5-6 cm thick.

But on the other hand we can use a pile of goodness to benefit a plant or tree by making a rich source of goodness next to where it is growing.

An email this week from my friends at Land of the Lotus in Whangarei ( https://landofthelotus.nz/ )

promoted me to write on this aspect.

The email said : Thanks for your informative news letter as always but I would suggest you try heavily mulching up your bananas for winter.

They are one of the few plants that can benefit from a good thick pile of lawn clippings etc in fact as I always say, treat them like a compost heap!

The heat generated helps keep them growing and they are gross feeders.

For the home garden the best way of planting bananas is to create a shallow pit and around the raised lip plant the bananas leaving a north facing opening for access.

Fill the pit with all your garden waste and watch those bananas grow.

It’s called a banana circle and is a handy way of hiding your compost heap and making great fruit.

Cheers and keep up the good work that frost protection stuff is working well!

Hugh Rose.

I have several varieties of bananas I have purchased from Land of The Lotus growing in 100 litre containers made from 200 litre plastic drums cut in half plus another banana growing nearby in open ground.

If you have a look on TradeMe for empty 200 litre drums for sale you may find some in your neck of the woods selling from $25.00 up wards which makes them a cheap long lasting container for bananas or fruit trees when cut in half.

Also movable around with a bit of effort.

Bananas I see can be grown in most areas of New Zealand with a care against frost damage by using Wallys Spray on Frost Protection monthly while frosts are a possibility.

Even damaged by frost I have found they will recover and produce more pups. (Young plants by parent)

In containers I simply add chicken manure to the top of the growing medium along with a bit of Fruit and Flower power now and then.

A past use of kitchen scraps was to dig a trench in the vegetable garden and place the scraps into one end of the trench and covering over as you go till trench is full.

Then plant vegetables on trench soil and start another trench along side.

A great and easy way of using kitchen scraps to best advantage. A little hydrated lime applied occasionally as you fill.

So to use the method of our friends from Land of The Lotus you could say out from a fruit tree, berry fruiting or citrus; by the drip line dig a hole and put all your kitchen scraps and organic waste into the hole as a feeder source for them.

Likewise on vines such as grape and passion fruit all heavy feeders make a hole about half a metre from the trunk and dispose of the wastes into that.

All good stuff and free which is even better.

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