How Gardeners Can Maximize Their Landscaping this Fall

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Probably one of the most beautiful things about a home is it's landscaping. Landscaping ideas abound. Theres no shortage of ideas that you can come up with for your landscape.

Once you choose a landscape design and begin to implement it, it literally transforms the look and feel of your home. I'm sure we've all seen those homes that don't have any landscaping at all to speak of. It gives off a dull presentation and depressing feeling to the home.

Yes, the landscape of your home is not only good for its feeling and beauty, but it also helps to increase the resale value of it as well. For example, if you have a home that looks immaculate and modern on the inside, with nothing to give it character on the outside you probably won't sell it as quick.

But on the other hand one that has the beautiful landscape and not so good on the inside will probably sell quicker. First impressions will always do better than the second.

Something Different

Today I'm going to show how the home gardener can maximize their landscaping efforts to keep the outside of their home beautiful year round. By an idea that takes very little effort and time if you remember to do it faithfully.

Since the majority of people always work their landscape in the spring time to get it looking good for the summer months and fall months we will begin there in the fall time. But, only this fall we'll make a change from what we normally do.

What is it that we normally do in the fall? Usually most homeowners always have to clear their yards from the fallen leaves from the summer. When they clear those leaves most metropolitan areas require you to bag those up and set them out for the trash pick up.

Where I live at, since it's a rural area, we can do it 3 ways.

Burn them

Push them to the street side for pick up

Or Bag them for pick up

Whichever way you do it your getting rid of them. But this fall theres a better way, more useful way. Heres my idea for you.

The Better Way

This fall and every one after that instead of getting rid of the leaves, keep them! Why would I want to do that, you ask? Because those leaves are valuable.

The fallen leaves carry rich nutrients that can be very useful where your landscape or garden is concerned. What we're going to do with them is make a nutrient rich mulch out of them to spread over your landscape to feed it.

Doing this will feed your trees, if you have them in your landscape design, as well as your flowers and your shrubbery. But I'm always raking my leaves out of my landscaping? Oh, just stay with me here and you'll see the benefit.

No problem, just use your rake or if you have one a leaf blower, and get all your leaves in a pile. Now let me say here that most leaf blowers can be used to mulch the leaves and twigs. But thats not the final step of the mulch we're going to make.

After you use your leaf blower or rake to get them into a pile, depending on how much mulch you want. (Go by the size of your yard or landscaping to get an idea of how much you'll need to make.) You'll need to have at least a 5 gallon bucket or even a used 50 gallon barrel will be the best.

The Powerful Mixture

Make sure it has a lid for it as well. If not make sure you can cover it and seal it. Put in the barrel or container a large plastic bag. Or large plastic trash bag will work. Use your garden hose and set the nozzle to mist. Spray in the container a light mist of water. Just enough to coat the bag with.

Now after you have your pile of leaves, put the dry leaves into the container. Also run your lawn mower and collect some fresh grass clippings. Put those into the container with the leaves.

Install the lid on the container and seal it. Every 2 to 3 weeks go out and stir the leaves in the container. You can either do this by hand or simply lay the container on its side and roll it to mix them up. You'll do this throughout the entire fall and winter months.

By the time the next spring arrives and you decide to begin work on your landscape, you'll have the nutrient richest mixture of leaf mulch you could ever have to spread over your landscaping and garden. It will also make the dirt rich in nutrients for your planting needs.

Lay this leaf mulch down first. Around your plants and flowers that you have planted. Works for vegetables as well. Then spread your regular favorite colored wood mulch down over top of the mixture. Then just add water and behold the beauty that comes up.

The Wrap Up

See, and you thought there was no use for those old dead leaves. No more need to get rid of them again. At least not all of them. If you have extra that you don't need, you can share some of that leaf mulch mixture with your friends and neighbors. They'll be saying what a great idea you came up with.

In fact, you can even help them out now, by clicking your favorite share buttons up on the right hand side of the website. Or by the #1 buttons in the article here. Share this article abroad on the net.

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