Fall Color

 The view off our back porch this morning:

Southern Maryland isn't really on the list of destinations to see fall color, like, say Sky Line Drive, but it's not that bad, and it's close to home. Our forests have a large number of species with great variation of colors, from brilliant red to yellow, that color at different times. Dogwoods, Black Gum (aka Tupelo) are bright red relatively early along with the yellow Tulip Poplar. Maples, Ironwood (Hop Hornbeam), Pawpaw, Sweet Gum and various Hickory come later, across the spectrum, and Oaks, mostly Black and White, come last in yellow and brown. We have a few trees green all year, American Holly and Mountain Laurel.

The Annual 'Don't Rake Your Leaves' Post

Via the Chesapeake Bay News List, from Casey Trees, October is Leave the Leaves Month! It's not October that bothers me, it's November

While October is known for being all things spooky season, it also has a lesser-known dedication: Leave the Leaves Month. You read that right – ditch those rakes, throw caution to the wind, and let your trees’ leaves coat your lawn in striking autumnal colors!

And if your neighbors get up in arms over your fallen leaves, there’s no need to fret. Read on to learn how and why letting nature do its work is a surefire way to help your lawn, the local environment, and your back pain. A blanket of leaves doesn’t just look pretty, it also has many ecological benefits!

While it’s easy to think of a tree’s fallen leaves as a pesky chore or as a feature of a messy lawn, it’s time to reframe them for what they really are: nature’s mulch. As leaves decompose, essential materials such as carbon, potassium, and phosphorus are released – nutrients that were borrowed during a tree’s growing season that are then recycled back into the soil.

A coat of leaves on the ground also helps keep soil moist and cool, reducing soil evaporation and insulating the ground from extreme temperature changes. This blanket also serves as a weed suppressant, blocking sunlight from reaching weed seeds and thereby reducing competition for a plant’s resources.

 

Helping your soil health doesn’t just affect your yard – it also impacts your greater community.

Terms such as “leaf litter,” “yard debris,” and “detritus” lend people to believe that fallen leaves are piles of stagnant, unliving waste. However, this couldn’t be further from the truth: fallen leaves are incredibly valuable habitats for countless living organisms. From microbes to macrofauna, these leaves are brimming with biodiversity, complex food webs, and innumerable ecological processes.

Fungi and bacteria lead the way for decomposition, breaking down the leaves into those critical nutrients for plants to reuse. Invertebrates such as snails, worms, and millipedes work to shred the fallen leaves into smaller fragments as they go about arboreal meals, contributing to the leaves’ nutrient recycling. And the buffet isn’t just for smaller critters – birds, frogs, and other larger animals pick through fallen leaves seeking out valuable food sources.

 

These fallen leaves also provide essential habitats for countless insect species. Butterflies, moths, and other organisms spend a portion of their lives amongst the fallen leaves resting upon the ground. If these leaves are shredded up, removed, or composted, these important species fail to reemerge in the spring. In other words, eliminating leaves decreases biodiversity while also removing the crucial ecological services these organisms provide, including pest control.

When we clear everything away, we’re not just “tidying up” — we’re removing habitats and food systems that keep our ecosystems balanced.

Nothing would make me happier than ignoring the leaves that will soon blanket the quarter acre of yard, the driveway, and the gardens.  But Georgia won't let me. The leaves on the lawn will be mowed in, and, eventually, the leaves covering the gardens raked and turned to compost. The rest of the two acres are still covered with woods, so the the leaves can rest in peace, and grow the fungus and bugs as nature intended. 

The Wombat has Rule 5 Sunday: Barbara Eden up and garnering clicks at The Other McCain.

The Monday Morning Stimulus

Epoch Times Health, I’m a Nutritionist—Here’s How I Drink Coffee for Health

The Wombat has Rule 5 Sunday: Barbara Eden up and garnering clicks at The Other McCain.

Fall is Fell

The autumnal equinox—the September equinox or the fall equinox—arrives on Saturday, September 23. Not only do temperatures drop, but plant life slows down and so do we. 

The fall equinox and the first day of autumn arrives on Saturday, September 23, 2023, at 02:50 A.M. EDT in the Northern Hemisphere. The equinox occurs at the same moment worldwide.

The Wombat has Rule 5 Sunday: Meanwhile In The Kitchen up on time and under budget at The Other McCain.

The Annual Leaf Post

One (or more) pops up in the Chesapeake Bay newsfeed every year: USDA, This Fall, Leave the Leaves!

It’s the time of year to do your fall garden cleanup. Rather than the tedious task of raking and bagging leaves and taking them to the landfill, the best way to reduce greenhouse gases and benefit your garden is to leave the leaves!

Leaves create a natural mulch that helps to suppress weeds while fertilizing the soil as it breaks down. The leaves also serve as a habitat for wildlife including lizards, birds, turtles, frogs, and insects that overwinter in the fallen leaves. These living creatures help keep pests down and increase pollination in your garden, so having a habitat for them in the fallen leaves can help to keep them around when you need them the most.

Micro-organisms are the life of soil, and they need food and nutrients all the time. The more leaves left on your garden, the more feed for these micro-organisms that make soil healthier and plants grow stronger. As the leaves decay, they add organic matter back into the soil, which lessens the need for fertilizer.

You can also include leaves in a compost mix to use on your crops. Mulching is a simple and beneficial practice you can use to create a healthy garden, and if you have trees, you have free mulch at your fingertips each fall. Mulching can protect the soil surface and help stop erosion from rainfall. Mulch also helps to moderate temperature extremes by keeping roots warmer during the winter and cooler in the summer, and helps to keep moisture in the ground, which is especially helpful during times of drought.

You can mulch leaves where they fall, chop them up with your mower, or choose to move the leaves. Leaves work well in between rows of crops or around fruit trees, areas where there is heavy machine or foot traffic, and shaded areas where vegetation doesn’t grow well. They can also be used in between growing seasons rather than leaving the soil bare. The leaves can also be useful in areas that have compacted soil as they help to reduce runoff as well as using their nutrients to create healthier soils.

Mulching leaves is only one way to use sustainable practices in your home garden. For more gardening tips, as well as information about how to participate in USDA’s People’s Garden initiative, check out The People's Garden | USDA.

For what it's worth, I'm a proponent of using the gas powered riding lawn mower to mulch the leaves that fall on the land, and leaving the leaves that fall in the beds until spring. Georgia would rather have the leaves raked.  We have a lot of leaves down now, and a huge number of them came down last night when temperatures dropped and the wind kicked up to 20 kts or so. I see mulching in my future. 

The Wombat has Late Night With Rule 5 Sunday: IJN Uranami ready and awaiting your approval.

Fall Is Fell

Fall arrives in the northern hemisphere at 9:04 EDT. Glad to see it, although I can't say I enjoy raking leaves. That won't happen for a few weeks, at least.

The Wombat has Rule 5 Sunday: Seltin Sweet ready and waiting at The Other McCain.

Every Year

CBF and other groups send out this article: Wait, Don't Rake: Leave Fallen Leaves Where They Fell

It's that time of the year when mornings come with frost and evenings come fast.

For many critters, that means final preparations for coming winter. For many of us, it means hours of yard work battling leaves.

Leaves are often seen as litter. To many people they look messy. So, Americans spend countless hours raking, bagging, blowing, and even burning leaves from their properties.

Leaf blowers may be convenient, low effort tools for moving a lot of leaves fast. But as with using gas-powered landscaping machines, can come at a cost beyond time and money. Blowers are noisy. They can cause hearing loss.

 

The exhaust also pollutes the air and contributes greenhouse gases.

Nature knows better. It knows that when leaves are left to lay on the ground, good things happen.

If you don't want to see a thick carpet of leaves in your yard you can help nature move things along by mulching fallen leaves with your lawn mower.

Fallen leaves form an organic blanket of sorts that protects roots and critters from the pending cold weather. Over time, this blanket is composted by a plethora of microorganisms that the plant roots use as source of natural fertilizer, and pollinator insects use as a food source.

This organic matter also allows more precipitation to soak into the ground, reducing nuisance flooding events and polluted stormwater runoff while recharging groundwater supplies. Scientists estimate that forest floors infiltrate 10 to 15 times more precipitation than do equivalent areas of lawn.

As it travels into the ground, pollutants in precipitation can be filtered out by the soils and broken down by microorganisms. This ground water is the source of potable water for many Pennsylvanians with wells and supplies streams with cool, clean water in the summer dry months.

Leaves also play an important role in supporting diverse and abundant life in local rivers and streams by creating something called watershed "tea." This tea is the microscopic breakdown of leaves and wood, and it's the food source for the good bugs and bacteria in a stream. These bugs support healthy populations of the economically important Eastern brook trout, the iconic Eastern hellbender, our state amphibian, and a large array of other critters.

Pennsylvania has a lot of trees and thus leaves. But we've lost a lot, especially in the places where they're most needed—alongside streams and streets. No other practice is as good at restoring stream health, cleansing the air, and providing wildlife habitat than strategically planted trees. That's why we're working with over 200 partners to plant 10 million trees for Pennsylvania.

Numerous studies have also found the being around and just looking at trees can improve our health. Trees do this by releasing chemicals called phytoncides, which help lower blood pressure and heart rate, reduce stress, anxiety, and help with sleep.

So, take a break this fall. Instead of blowing them away, walk among the leaves.

These posts always make me want to go around and check the houses of the guys who put this stuff out, to see if they practice what they preach. 

The Wombat has Rule 5 Sunday: Denise Richards ready and waiting at The Other McCain.

Beach Report 11/10/21 - Fall is Fell

Fall is well and truly underway here in Southern Maryland. This wouldn't be your go to area for seeing fall color. We have a good variety, with yellow oaks, orange hickories, red maples, and gums (not to mention the omnipresent Poison Ivy and Virginia Creeper), but it's rather spread out in time.

But we're getting pretty close to the peak.

Some Japanese Maples (are we allowed to call them that still?) that we pass along the way to the beach. 

Long shadows on the beach, even if you get there pretty early. It was another nearly perfect day, 70 ish, clear and not windy. We have a lot of debris washing up, probably from the storm a week or so ago, but also, just because it's Fall.

Georgia and Skye lead the way home as I dawdle looking for teeth. We got over 30 today, some nice, none awesome.

The Qian Kun, a Chinese general cargo ship, on the way up to Baltimore. Who knows what it's carrying, Christmas, maybe? A couple crab pots in the foreground show that crabbing is not yet done for the year.

The dunes have all but browned out, not to be green again until spring is well along.

Indian Summer at the Beach 12/13/20

I'm over doing the pictures today. So sue me. It's a gorgeous day here, high 60's with clear sky and now wind. On the way down to the beach Skye and I saw butterflies, this Common Buckeye and a Cloudless Sulphur or two.

A Periwinkle got fooled into blooming.

And this Bradford Pear is in full fall color in the brush by the boatyard, although the leaves are out of most of our trees by now. Bradford Pears are terrible, invasive trees, the don't hold up well in yards, but they sure are pretty in Spring, when they bloom, and in fall.

Skye got to say hi! to a fellow sled dog. This Samoyed was useless for pulling the kayak up the beach.

A big chopper, presumably military.

When we got to the creek at Matoaka, which was still extremely high, we could glimpse . . . so we forded the stream, getting wet feet in the process.

Yep; he's still here, up on one of the groins at Matoaka. 

Georgia pouring the water out of her boots after wading back across the creek. Fossil hunting was awful; 4 teeth and a crab claw. 

I guess there was enough wind to sail a sailboat.

But not enough to discourage the rowing guy. Actually, it takes a lot to discourage him. He seems to go every day, wind or not.

Buffleheads, yet again.

Trust in God, but steer away from the rocks. 

Beach Report 11/22/20

Fall is well along, with at least half the leaves out of the trees. These Japanese Maples on our usual route down to the beach are spectacular. I found a couple of seedlings on the other side of the street a couple years ago and brought them home, they're growing nicely, but we haven't decided what to do with them yet.

The weather was not as pleasant as yesterday, nor the tide anywhere near as low. It was overcast, breezy and 55 F. Still, we found 19 shark's teeth and a Tilly bone, though none as nice as yesterday's big tooth.

Georgia and Skye are just specks near the water line on the way back. 

Georgia said she thought she saw Whitey fly into the harbor as she was driving down to the beach. On our way back, we drove in to check, and indeed, there he (or she, I don't really know) sitting on the lift slip, which has the day off.

A gust of wind caught him and ruffled his feathers for this photo. 

Beach Report 11/10/20

Georgia wanted to stay home and work in the garden before it rains tomorrow, so Skye and I headed down before lunch. 

Some pretty decent fall color on the far side of the harbor.

A Cormorant sunning its wings on the marker in the harbor mouth.

A remarkably warm day for November, in the mid 60s and up to 70, despite mostly overcast skies.

Despite high tide, I had a pretty good day for fossils, 16 shark's teeth, including this smallish but pretty clean Carcharodon hastalis, the white shark presumed to be ancestral to today's Great White.

Sunday Beach Report, 11/8/20

Clear as a bell, calm and temperatures in the low 60's, a picture perfect November day.

A low tide, but lots of sand made fossil hunting tough. 

Up on Calvert Beach we found this Bald Eagle being harassed by two crows (out of the frames). I named them Biden and Harris. 

Social distancing, Chesapeake style.

And upon reflection . . .