The Magic-maker

This might look like a kind-of-battered, pretty-dirty, seen-better-days piece of garden equipment. In truth though, it's a magic maker!

Many years ago we borrowed this Flowtron leaf eater from a neighbor. When we went to return it, they told us we could keep it as they didn't use it any more.

This is one of the piles of leaves on our property. I had bagged up close to 70 bags of leaves last fall. A nice mix of Oak leaves and various Maple leaves were gathered. I do have to add that having all those bags of leaves lying around isn't the most attractive thing but now that spring is here, we are so happy we put up with the sight of those leaf bags.

My husband Don has been shredding leaves when ever he can find a spare hour or two. It's an easy job but very time consuming as this older model leaf eater will clog if you dump too many leaves in it at one time. By the way, there is a new, super-de-duper model of Flowtron leaf eater available at Amazon.com and it looks amazing!

The final product that comes out of this leaf mulcher is the most amazing stuff. It's soft and fluffy, smells heavenly and best of all has no chemicals, dies or stuff like that added to it. It's the ultimate organic product for the garden.

I will use these leaves to mulch beds, add these leaves to potting soil to give it some "oomph" and also use them to mulch the tops of the pots that I've been potting up. What ever is left after all of that will get added to the compost heap which is mostly leaves anyway.

One more note, today some of the ladies from our local gardening club are coming here at 10:30 to learn how to divide some perennials. Some more women are coming tomorrow at 4:00. If you are reading this and are in the vicinity of South Huntington, you are welcome to stop by and watch as I divide plants. If you can't make it, don't worry, there's lots more dividing to do and we'll be running workshops through the next month or two.

See ya!
Melanie