A portion of my front garden is mostly planted in meadow flowers--rudbeckia, asclepias tuberosa, echinacea, and so on. Right now, it's covered with autumn-fallen oak leaves that I'd planned to rake out--but I'm wondering whether I could save myself the trouble.
Oak leaves don't break down very fast, but they don't mat, either. Can I count on the rudbeckia, et al., to grow up through them and conceal them, thus protecting me from the rancor of the neighbors while also allowing natural decomposition to feed the flowers and enrich the soil?
Someone has suggested raking them out, running a mower over them, and raking them back in--but I'm wondering whether I can even skip that step.
My goal is to have a largely self-sustaining garden. (OK, go ahead and laugh, though it's really unnecessary. There's been plenty of laughing at that idea already. ;-)
Thanks for any suggestions.
Kathleen Domenig
2077 North Oak Lane
State College, Pennsylvania
USA
daytime telephone: 1-814-234-2150
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