Did I Ruin My Garden with Leaf Mulch?

Remember the growpocolypse in my accidental front yardvegetable garden?

No?

Here is a little photo refresher.

We called the squash and cucumber vines Audrey 1 and 2

I have a freezer full of heirloom squash, a shelf full of relish and pickles, and a whopping THREE jars of salsa from the six heirloom tomatoes our plants gave us. I canned them all with the exception of the squash, natch. I froze the squash. I dried a ton of basil, oregano, and chive too. I'm feeling a bit like Ma Ingalls but without the bonnet. Although I would totally rock the bonnet if I chose to wear it, FYI. 

I yanked the spent vegetable  vines and plants and chucked them into the compost bin.

I drained our nifty Water Stone rain barrel rock and plugged the holes in downspout diverter with the leftover cork tops from brandy bottles we keep in the kitchen to use as wine bottle stoppers. Why is it that the cute wine bottle stoppers we buy break but the freebie cork bottle tops we use as a last minute replacement last forever? It’s one of life’s great mysteries…

Anyway.

The garden looks a little sad and devoid of color after we put it to bed.  Sad face.

Looking at all of the now exposed dirt in the flowerbed I realized that if we didn’t lay down some sort of mulch, all of that lovely organic soil Husband and I bought last spring might erode away like the organic peat did the pervious year. Even sadder face.

I looked at my mulch options. Most are bark mulch, which the gardener gurus say you shouldn’t add to your garden if you want to grow food because bark mulches add acidity to the soil. That’s out. Husband and are already talking about giving tomatoes another go next summer and adding more herbs for more organic pest control you can eat - love that!

I have a naked tree and a front yard full of leaves. I wonder if I have enough leaves to use as mulch?

Thank goodness for small yards!

I guess I do.

The price is right too. A little green high five to myself on that one plus, no hauling and hefting heavy bags of mulch!

What do you think? Will I ruin my garden? Leaf mulch - yay or nay? 

UPDATE: Husband and I were feeling pret-ty smug about our free and easy garden mulch. You know what that means! After an evening of tornado watches and warnings, we woke up to this...

Where did all the leaf mulch go?

Blown back into the yard of course!

Do you have any ideas on how I can keep the wind from blowing the mulch out of my flowerbed?

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