Since they can’t open their gardens to the public this year, the Advertiser has invited local horticultural societies to write about what’s going on in their gardens. For questions or to submit articles, email jshuttleworth@wellingtonadvertiser.com.
FERGUS – You may have noticed pickup trucks loading leaves left on the curb this time of year. It happens every year. These are members of the Fergus and District Horticultural Society gathering leaves to create mulch for all the gardens in Fergus.
It takes dozens of trucks, hours and hours over many days to load, drop off, and eventually shred all that has been collected.
“Mulch is such an important part of maintaining a good, healthy garden,” said Bruce Youngblood.
“Mulch reduces weeds and lessens the amount of weeding in a garden.”
It encourages earth worms, protects against temperature changes and helps retain water, lessening the need to water plants. It even adds nutrients and prevents erosion.
Each year the Fergus and District Horticultural Society’s “Diggin in the Dirt” team puts a new layer of mulch on all the gardens they care for in Fergus before they begin planting.
“We thank the community for their contribution,” said Patty Searle-Johnston, “and ask that care be taken not to include metal, glass, wood or any hard object in leaf bags. Even nails can be problematic. These objects will damage our leaf shredder.”
The bags are collected from all over town and taken to Bruce Youngblood’s farm. Bruce stores the leaf shredder the Society owns. It’s an industrial grade shredder that does an amazing job.
Bruce is generous enough to store the mulch over the winter as well, letting Mother Nature work her magic creating magnificent mulch every spring.
It takes a large group working in shifts to manually feed the shredder, filling a large fenced in area about 1 ½ metres high (4 feet), with shredded leaves that will eventually become mulch.
Any foreign objects can damage the shredder and even with the care that is taken, once in a while a foreign object gets through and shuts down the shredder. It takes a lot of people a lot of time to accomplish this but it is vital to maintain the beautiful gardens we enjoy in our town.
So, when you rake your leaves and put them on the curb, take a second to pat yourself on the back for helping maintain the quality of gardens in town. Your leaves may wind up in our shredder and eventually in our beautiful gardens.
Ken Johnston has been a member of the Fergus & District Horticultural Society for the past four years. He is currently chair of the publicity committee.