Leaf-blower Lament

Oh the sounds of spring are here! It is a wonderful time of year to be in the garden just listening to nature. For me, it is the songbirds that steal the auditory show- a new call seemingly added to the choral collection every day- some whose voices I can identify, but many more that I (sadly) cannot. The collection of songs is exuberance for life put to sound. Hearing them makes it seem as though the whole world is shouting out ‘Rejoice! Rejoice! It’s spring!’

The American Robin- A sure sign of spring both in sight and sound. Photo courtesy of wirestock on www.freepik.com. (What can I say, like bird call identification, bird photography is just not my strength!)

And then it inevitably happens- I am ripped from my blissful bubble of birdsong by a low chugging noise followed by some revving and repetitive crescendos of a screaming engine. Two, three, even four more often join in on the obnoxious party. Asynchronous and without rhythm they create a dreadful chorus that drowns out all other sounds and thoughts.

Oh leaf-blower. How I despise your sound and so many other things about you!

Am I being harsh? Maybe. After all, leaf-blowers have made fast, light work out of many once onerous gardening tasks. But, is it really worth it? There are some serious drawbacks to the indiscriminate use of leaf-blowers in a garden. Let’s have a look at a few of them:

Loss of Soil

How often have you seen a landscape crew rip through a yard during a spring or fall clean-up shrouded in a cloud of dust and mulch pieces? For me the answer is: ‘way too often’.

The top layer of garden soil is the garden’s most valuable layer. It is where the majority of plant roots reside, where the majority of soil organisms live, it is also the layer with the highest organic mater and nutrient content. Essentially it is the topsoil (including the organic layer that lies on top of it) that sustains life. As gardeners, we spend so much time building up this layer by adding compost, manure, shredded leaves, and/or mulch- why would we want to blow all that away?

A little graphic that depicts a very generalized soil profile. In a garden setting, unless groundcovers have been planted, the organic and topsoil layers are exposed, making it really easy for leaf blowers to blow away these layers!
<a href='https://www.freepik.com/vectors/education'>Education vector created by brgfx - www.freepik.com</a>

Damage to Plants

In addition to losing valuable organic matter and nutrients, blowing away the surface of our beds can also expose the roots of some of our more shallow-rooted plants (such as Rhododendron, Hydrangra and Buxus just to name a few). When roots are exposed to air, they ultimately die and this loss of roots can be a stressor on our plants. To take this one step further, plants that are under stress are more susceptible to attack by pests such as insects and disease-causing organisms.

Damage to the Pocketbook

Blowing away mulch and topsoil (as well as other products previously bought to incorporate into the soil) is essentially sending money into the wind. Nothing like spending money and getting nothing in return!

Fossil Fuel Use
Leaf-blowers are terrible for the gas they consume both from the standpoint of fossil fuel consumption, as well as the fumes that the operators must endure.

Noise!

Did I mention that I can’t stand the noise of these blowers?! I am sure I am not alone in this sentiment. Electric and battery powered blowers are far quieter to operate, which is nicer for neighbours, and kinder on the eardrums of the operators too!

FINDING THE BALANCE

Despite this rant, I will admit, I have a leaf blower (gasp!). Not a gas powered beast, just a battery powered piece of equipment. It is a valuable tool in my truck. It makes the cleanup of hardscape a breeze. It is much more effective to blow off (rather than sweep) the mess of potting soil that extends out 10 feet in all directions from any pot I plant-up (hey, what can I say, I’m a messy planter!). It is also way more efficient to blow off a driveway rather sweep it!

My well-used battery powered blower has been worth every penny. It makes hardscape clean-up a breeze and is gentle on the soil when I must use it within the softscape. (I am not affiliated to Stihl in any way!)

Ok, so the good ‘ol blower is great for hardscape, but what about the softscape? Do I use this tool in the garden? Sometimes… and sparingly. Now I will start by saying my blower is not as forceful as it’s gas powered cousins and it has a great range of air speeds that I can easily control. For my needs, this is a good thing as I find soil tends to stay put when I use my blower on it. Additionally, I do not use my blower to make a garden spotless, I generally use it as a rough and quick ‘inital pass’ on the beds (usually only during spring and fall clean-ups) and I leave the detail work to be done by hand, which ensures that garden mulch and soil remains in place. Picking out debris by hand has the added benefit of putting me into the garden where I am better able to spot issues within the beds or on the plants.

Well thanks for hearing out my rant! If anything, let this post be ‘food for thought’. A reminder that all our actions will have consequences that affect our gardens and even small adaptations to how we conduct ourselves can make a difference in the overall health of our garden soil and therefore plants.

Now, back to my symphony…

Footprints are for the beach.

What do you see when you look at this picture?

I’ll start by telling you what I don’t see. (Rant alert!!!)

I don’t see a beautiful garden edge.

I don’t see a patch of Geranium x cantabrigiense that feels the same way about the relentless heat we have been experiencing that I do.

Instead, I see 2 big footprints glaring at me from the dirt. Hmmm… mens size 9.5 maybe?

Anyone who knows me, knows that footprints in a garden are a HUGE pet peeve of mine. I am known to walk backwards out of a garden, fluffing out my footprints as I retreat. I am sure it has raised many an eyebrow. I am also known to contort into various awkward-looking pseudo-yoga poses in order to avoid taking a step into a garden bed. (Should we call for help? Wonder the passerbys).

Ahhhh…. just a little fluff of the mulch makes everything better!

As a landscape gardener, I believe that gardens should look like they magically take care of themselves or little garden fairies tend to them while we are sleeping. Therefore when I leave a job site, I strive to leave no trace of my gardening visit. 

Footprints just look awful. They dash the illusion of magical intervention, and they detract from the nice features within a garden. As in the photo above, instead of seeing the absolutely beautiful garden edge made by Mr. 9.5, all I see is the print of a CSA approved workboot. Pitty. 

OK. Rant complete. Now onto something more productive as there are other reasons to not trample in a garden. Repeatedly walking all over a garden bed (especially a wet one) causes compaction of the soil: an all-around bad situation.

Let’s backtrack. 

Soil is made up of a few different things:

1. Mineral components (sand, silt and clay)

2. Organic components (such a living organisms and decaying plant matter)

3. Pore spaces (tiny spaces between soil particles that are filled with water or air)

Now there are entire textbooks devoted to soil. I know- I’ve owned one… and likely slept on it before an exam in the hopes that any unlearned information would somehow transfer into my brain via osmosis. So I am going to try to keep this concise: essentially, the pore spaces in the soil are really important! 

When soil is compacted, the solid soil particles are pressed closer together thus reducing pore spaces. When this happens, there are significant consequences. Here are some of them:

• The soil becomes denser and it becomes harder for plant roots to push through the soil, stunting the root system and negatively impacting the overall growth of the plants

• The soil cannot absorb moisture as easily (which means that rain/irrigation water is more likely to run off the soil rather than infiltrate into it)

• The ability of the soil to drain can be restricted, leading to overly saturated conditions for extended periods of time (not all plants are able to tolerate these conditions)

• Gas exchange between the roots of plants and the soil (needed for biological processes) and also between the soil environment and the ‘outer world’ is compromised which negatively impacts plant growth

• Availability and plant uptake of nutrients can be negatively affected in compacted soils

• Soil processes such as the decomposition of organic matter can be slowed down

Why is it that nothing grows on a hiking trail? Soil compaction is a significant factor.

OK. You can wake up now!

So you probably get the point that soil compaction is a BAD thing… but what’s a lowly weight-bearing gardener to do?

While it is impossible to not walk in a garden, there are some tips to help minimize compaction of your soil:

• Tread minimally: if you can reach what you need to reach without stepping into your garden, harness your inner psuodo-yogi and do it! Additionally, don’t walk through your garden to get to your next task, step out of it and walk around it if possible. Then take the shortest route possible back into the garden to access your next working area.

• Be mindful of the moisture level in your soil: it is much easier to compact wet soils than dry ones. If you need to be walking in your garden beds, do so when the soil is on the drier side. This is an especially important point to keep in mind if you garden on clay soils, which are much easier to compact than sandier soils.

• Designate your walking zones: some gardeners will put minor paths through their garden to act as access points from which they can work without having to step into their cultivated areas. These paths can be as simple as a mulched trail or small stepping stone walkway. Whatever your path of choice, using one keeps the impacts of compaction to a specific area.

• Distribute your weight: some gardeners choose to distribute their weight by placing down temporary planks across the garden on which they walk. Obviously this is not always feasible or practical but it can be a good soil-preserving technique.

A garden that can be accessed by various features such as a dry riverbed (not shown) and rockery.

And thats a wrap!

Soil compaction... an important process that can have significant consequences on your garden and it’s inhabitants (and here you thought you were looking at simple footprints...).