It’s the end of the growing season, when pumpkins shrivel on porches and leaves blanket our yards. But instead of sending that fall waste to the landfill, gardeners can turn it into something useful.
Seamus Allman is the urban horticulture manager at Louisville Grows, where he helps residents care for community gardens and build healthier soil.
I spoke with Seamus about composting pumpkins, reusing leaves, and how to prepare gardens for the next season.
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Ayisha Jaffer: It's just after Halloween, and a lot of us are staring at those collapsing pumpkins on our porches. What's the best thing we can do with them? And why is that better than throwing them out?
SA: Some people may already have a compost pile. This is an opportunity to start one, if you'd like. Fall creates the opportunity for raw materials to be right there, if you have pumpkins that are starting to break down, or if the squirrels have already attacked them, as they do.
And to make a good compost pile, you need things with the right carbon-to-nitrogen ratio. If you have something like pumpkins and other food scraps from the kitchen, and then you've got leaves that have a lot of carbon — you've got a good recipe to get a compost pile started.
AJ: For those who aren't familiar with composting, can you explain what that means?
SA: It's a great way to keep organic materials out of the landfill. The more organic material in the landfill, the more methane gas it produces. That impacts the people who live nearby the landfill.
To build a good compost pile there are so many different approaches. If you just want to do it right there on the ground without any kind of structure, that's fine. There are a number of good composting bins that you could buy. Some people really like the rolling ones, because you're not having to turn it with a fork by hand. You can just push that roller, and that mixes things together and gets the pile aerated.
If you have too much carbon or if you have too much nitrogen, you’re not going to get that rich material with a lot of nutrients that you can recycle back into your yard, raised garden bed or whatever you might have to use it on.
AJ: Leaves are also starting to pile up everywhere this time of year. What do you recommend people do with them? Are there ways to put them to use that people might not expect?
SA: Using them in your compost or using them as mulch. The tannins in the leaves are slightly acidic, but the process of them breaking down over the winter ends up neutralizing so it doesn't affect the pH of your soil either way. And if it did, it would be okay, because a lot of lawns and a lot of ornamental plants actually prefer a slightly acidic soil here in Kentucky; because of all the limestone, a lot of our soil is actually slightly basic.
If you have a blower and you have ornamental beds, it saves a lot of work not having to rake. You just blow those leaves into the ornamental beds and then let them sit all winter. It helps the soil. It creates habitat for overwintering insects, and it kind of helps the ecosystem in different ways.
AJ: As we move into this seasonal transition from fall into winter — we’re already feeling it — what should Louisville gardeners be doing right now to prepare their soil, gardens and yards?
SA: Covering with mulch is a great way to use some of the other waste materials from your yard in your landscaping. Fall into winter is a good time to prune. If you want to move things around, if you want to put perennials in, fall is the best time to plant trees. These next few months every year are the best time to put things in the ground to reduce that stress that happens when you're moving plants around.
AJ: For listeners who want to learn more, get involved, are there any local resources, volunteer opportunities or programs you'd recommend this season?
SA: Well, of course, I'll pitch my organization — Louisville Grows. You can come to louisvillegrows.org. In terms of resources, your county extension is always a good place to go. The Soil and Water Conservation District — those folks are specialists who work in the green industry and have a lot of expertise.
