Leaf mulch, preferably shredded leaf mulch depending on the type of leaves you have, is a great mulch. I prefer to compost the leaves myself and then add the compost to the beds. Maple, popular, and most other types of leaves can easily be added to a bed and they decompose over the winter and into the next growing season. Oak leaves in particular are notorious for matting down and causing the issues you noted.

Since I garden in the south, I mulch in winter to keep the soil from loosing the warmth and in the spring to maintain constant soil moisture. In the north, you may wish to mulch after the ground has frozen to keep the soil cold so it won't heave your plants as the soil warms and cools over the winter (with the mulch maintaining the colder temps).

I've used both and I have to say, I really prefer the composted leaves to just shredding the leaves and leaving them for the winter. The composted leaves stay put while the shredded ones ended up all over the yard.

Mulch is great for plants however when spring comes along, you'd have to remove them from the base of plants to prevent disease from infecting plants. I'd simply gather them to decompose further in a pile. Reapply to plants once it gets down to a smaller size.

Right now I think everybody's plants look unhappy. My daylilies that looked so happy in January's warm spell suffered in February's freezes. I'm trying to resist believing that early March heat, lasts.

Nell

Weird token as I have found that shredded leaves tend to stay put better, especially after they get wet, then ones that just are left intact. Once they are composted, they aren't leaves, they are compost or leaf mould depending on if other greens were added to the piles.

Have never removed mulch from around plants in my garden and had a problem with doing so ianna. Then again, my area has been in drought like conditions and I don't have to worry about burying rodents that some people have to deal with. They really like all that mulch up next to plants.

The intact leaves are along the edges of the yard. I used shredded leaves in the front bed and while most stayed, the north corner was bare within a day of moderate winds. So I went to the landfill and brought home wood mulch. I can't wait until it decomposes. It's not as nice as what I got last year and its now attracting all those pill bugs. I bet the slugs will have a great time munching on the new hostas I put over there this winter.

Everywhere else in the garden I use composted leaves for mulch. It stays nice and moist even in our droughts. The top may dry out a little, but an inch or so down, it's still damp.

Schoolhouse - I must say that it's perhaps early for your plants to be looking happy - any plants in my gardens that look happy now, or even in a month, will show frost burns on their foliage. Depending on how long you have gardened there, the new pests may be due to less chemicals around your property. I have to say that last Spring, my 1st in this house, came with an phenomenal number of vole holes and tunnels in the lawn. From what I see this year there are less - possibly due to my hunter cats. I shoot the leaves onto my gardens with the lawnmower, and always have!!

If I were you, I'd leave it a couple more weeks, to see what comes next. Ianna is correct, as you do need to remove winter mulch at some point. The frost heave probably has more to do with accumulated snow and temp fluctuations than anything else. imho.

Nancy.

I use Leaf Mold for mulch - it improves the soil and adds acidity to my very sandy, very alkaline soil. Nematodes, hate it!
I go down into the woods under the oak trees where it is very thick and partially decayed to get mine. Using a spading fork, I dig it out & pile it into my wheel barrow. Then haul it up to the garden areas. It's terrific. Great stuff for veggie gardens and roses love it. Smells like 'shrooms!

~Annie

I had the worst problem ever with voles this winter. I think it was the constant snow cover. They have left a maze of tunnels all over and I didn't mulch in the fall. I never mulch in the fall because it draws rodents. They still came.

Yesterday I saw a small woman pulling a big old fashioned looking lawn roller over her yard. It had to have been heavy the way she was straining like a horse in harness! I thought to myself that's a great idea, I should be doing to smash those mole tunnels but then I'd end up with a sore back for sure.
I don't think my mower would pull a heavy roller, esp. not the kind she was trying to use.

Nancy, you are correct. Frost heave has to do with alternating periods of the ground freezing and then thawing and the cycle repeating. Snow is actually an insulator as is leaf mulch or any other type of mulch. If you apply the mulch after the ground freezes, then it acts as an insulator and keeps the ground cold so it won't thaw and you won't get the heaving. Snow on top of mulch acts as an extra layer of insulation that will further prevent the heaving process.

I think the issue of removing winter mulch depends a lot on where you garden. I've never removed any mulch at any time......I just keep adding to it :-) Disease shouldn't be an issue - mulch generally helps to supress diseases by smothering fungal spores or preventing them from splashing back up to the plants. Rot may be a problem in some cases if the mulch is piled too close to woody stems or is too thick over the crowns of more delicate plants, but even in the winter soggy PNW, I've never had that problem. In colder climates, removing or pulling back the mulch in early spring can help the soil warm up faster - this is the exact seasonal reverse of the process Miguel describes above, due to the very efficient insulating factor of most organic mulches.

Thankfully, that is not an issue for me in my zone, as removing the mulch just when most weed seeds are germinating would create a horrific weed situation! I need that mulch in place to smother the weeds.

We use leaves every fall to winter protect the plants, as we can get down to -25 in the winter. However, come spring we do need to remove the leaves as the plants would smoother under the leaves as the weather warms. I believe the difference being in the colder zones, we completely cover the plants or mound the leaves around the plants. This then does need to be removed.
Mary lu

nckvilledudes - I mentioned removing mulch away from the base of plants, not completely removing them from the bed. However since the problem concerns possible rats or mice perhaps it's best to expose any holes that many exist and thus my suggestion to pile up the mulch elsewhere to completely decompose.

mulch removal from plant bases is something we do practise in our cold climate. The only times I add mulch are in fall as a form of winter protection and in summer to prevent drought. In between I try to let the plant base breath and it prevents problems with fungus or viruses and such pests like slugs and earwigs..

Ianna, could be that I am just lucky living in the south as we don't really have to mound anything over the plants to protect them in the winter. I do use shredded leaves over some of my beds but as late as it stays warm here and as fast as it can warm up, the leaves seem to dissapate quite quickly and I, like gardengal, don't have to worry about it. If I did have issues with moles or voles or other dastardly critters that might be attracted by the leaves around the base of plants, I too would definitely remove them from the plants.

I also didn't really think about how the leaves might insulate your ground from warming up in the spring. That is not something that we in the south ever have to worry about. Of course, I would love it if it never got above 72 or so here in the summer! :0)

Where I live the soil is composed mostly of gritty sand. I must mulch or everything would dry up too fast and that sand really heats up in the summer - and I mean the ground gets hot, now! So mulching helps hold in the moisture, keeps the soil temps down and prevents plant scald.

I prefer using pine straw (dried pine needles) for mulch. It doesn't blow away and is slow to decay. The pine needles allows moisture to go through down to the plant but prevents it from evaporating. Good stuff, Maynard!

I use wheat straw in my veggie garden and pine straw under my acid loving plants, including strawberries.

Leaf mold is the best kind of leaf mulch because it is partially decomposed matter and while it holds in moisture, it also readily releases nutrients into your soil, conditioning it.

~ Annie

nckvilledudes,

I'm glad you don't have issues with creatures. In this case however, schoolhouse's neighbors mentions the possibility and so I would trust their instincts first and do some preventive action. One pregnant rodent can produce 10 babies which become sexually mature in 2 weeks, and mama rodent can once again get pregnant at the same time as her offsprings... So you can see how a rat population and explode exponentially if not addressed. And where 1 rat can reproduce in plentiful, comes predators which include snakes (and I hope there are none in schoolhouse's area..)

Mulching has many virtues but it does harbour disease and removal of mulches close to the base is something that is recommended by experts - that is how I learned of the practice which several years ago. I think I read it in Fine Gardening or Gardengate. Last year for example, I failed to remove mulch from the base of my grafted rose. It now has a disease located in it's graft union. A spongy causing virus or bacteria. Grafted plants are particularly susceptible because cold weather can cause minute cracks at it's graft union and disease can enter this way... Perhaps the choice of materials for mulching to reduce incidence of disease, for example peat moss has antibacterial properties. Shredded cedars are resistant to fungus and many insects don't like these... I certainly wish I used it when I had an explotion of earwigs last year.

However I agree, leaf mould is a great mulch - it adds nutrients that are necessary for plants. I would only suggest that it's best to get these shredded before using as a mulch as it accelerates decomposition. I also would recommend using grass cuttings as mulch.

As for weed seeds, it happens anytime even on top of mulches. I simply let it grow for a couple of days and then take a hoe and disturb the emergent plants and kill them.

Ianna

Ianna, like I am so fond of saying on any forum I frequent, what works well in one garden often fails miserably in another. The only real way to see what does or doesn't work for you is to try it and see and then try something else if it doesn't. Luckily for me, mulch has never resulted in any disease issues for the plants that I grow. I am very much in line with what gardengal had to say that mulch smothers the weed seeds and fungal spores instead of causing issues with the plants. Again, what works for me may not work for you.

Didn't realize it was schoolhouse's neighbors that mentioned the issue with rodents. She just said that more than one person had warned her of rodents and other varmints taking advantage of the mulch. If it was her neighbors than I agree that using mulch or excessive amounts of mulch in close proximity to other people who have issues with critters in their mulch that she might be open to the same issues.

I was referring to other posters on GW who suggested mulch makes nice comfy homes for varmints in winter, not my neighbors. But thanks for all the discussion and tips. I still like the idea of shredded leaves for mulch, I'll just have to discover how much or how little works for me over time (just as some poster here have said!).

sorry, my bad. I had assumed schoolhouse was referring to neighbors

No problem Ianna. Only goes to show that two people can read the same thing and get two different things out of it! I have done it in the past as well. :)

Good luck schoolhouse. Let us know what you figure out works for you and good luck in the garden.