Most folks up here in the north take all our leaves just for granted.  Myself I see them as a  benefit to my gardens.  Come fall when they start to drop, I gather up all I can, which is quite an amount to say the least.  I then rake them, carry them and wheel them to my garden and spread them all over the top.  Once done I then till them in a wee bit, just so that they don’t blow away with the winter winds. Come spring they will be then tilled in again and other than the looks of nice the black soil, you wouldn’t even know they were there. It’s a great economical way of building your gardens and  so easy to do.  You got to figure that every year your plants are taking a lot of that soil and using it to keep themselves alive.  If you don’t put back in what is used, well you won’t have a garden for very long.   The leaves I don’t use in my garden are, cedar, not really a leave, same as pine as I don’t use them either, but for leaves, not to be used, the main one would be black walnut.  Actually you don’t even want your garden to be near one.  Also oak isn’t the greatest either, but can be used if left off to one side of your garden rotting for a few years before using.  So there you go, you still got lots of time to make use of them leaves  so why not make some use of them.  Talk Soon.

Well back to some more rain here the past two days.  Also had some freezing stuff thrown in with it.  Nothing to make a fellow or gal worry though.  One thing at least we aren’t shovelling yet.

On another note this is the time of year to get down on your knees.  No………not to do any praying, as that never helped anyone that I know of in my day.  But……….. this is the time to get that garlic planted so you can be eating healthy come next June.  I put in around five, twenty foot rows this year, as my wife told me we needed more than I planted last year.   Thing is, one doesn’t need  much space when it comes to planting garlic.  I keep my rows around six  to ten inches apart and plant each clove another six to ten inches apart, which for around thirty years has worked well for me.   I like to put them under ground around an inch or so, which also I found is a good depth.  To finish them off I spread a few leaves over the top of them, straw or what ever is ok also.  I then mark my rows so I don’t get to tilling them up in the spring, and, well that’s about it.  I got to tell you, my wife and I sure love fresh home grown garlic.  Once you taste home grown garlic you will never go back to store bought stuff.  Should mention one more thing, the garlic that comes from China in 75% of the stores today, I won’t plant.  Reason being, it just doesn’t grow as nice.  The kind I like, has a bluish ting to it and usually sells by the pound.  So that’s that.  Now I hope you all get outside and put a few in the ground.  You will be glad you did I can guarantee that.  Oh and when down on your knees planting, take up a good handful of soil and let the fragrance of it entice you, as it is a long while till spring. Talk Soon.