Fall Bulk Leaf Mulch Sale at Olbrich Botanical Gardens in Madison

Bulk Thursdays
September 24, October 1, 8 & 15

Gardeners are used to mulching in the spring, but now you can buy the same leaf mulch used in Madison’s award-winning Olbrich Botanical Gardens for your home garden in the fall, too. This leaf mulch is available only through Olbrich. Leaf mulch cuts down on watering and weeding, recycles local leaves, and is credited for Olbrich’s healthy-looking gardens. While applying mulch to gardens in the spring is most common, applying leaf mulch to gardens in the fall helps regulate soil temperatures during the winter, and gives the garden a head start in the spring.

Bulk quantities of leaf mulch will be available on Thursdays, September 24, and October 1, 8, and 15 from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Bulk tractor scoops of mulch are $40 and cover approximately 350 square feet at a depth of three inches. No bagged mulch will be available. Bulk mulch is loose and is loaded with a tractor. It’s best carried in a truck or trailer, but customers may choose to load a scoop into their own containers, too. All proceeds raised from the sale benefit Olbrich Botanical Gardens, which promotes sustainable gardening practices and education.

At Olbrich, a three to four inch layer of mulch is applied to the garden beds in the spring, summer, and fall. “As you know, winter temperatures in Wisconsin can vary drastically! These cycles of freeze and thaw can be very hard on your plants, especially those that are only marginally hardy in our area. Adding a few inches of mulch to your planting beds in late fall, when the ground is frozen or near frozen, can help insulate the soil and maintain a consistent ground temperature during winter,” says Samantha Peckham, Olbrich Horticulturist. The leaves also break down quickly, improving the quality of the soil

“Our leaf mulch is one of the biggest contributors to our success in growing most groups of plants at the Gardens,” says Jeff Epping, Olbrich’s Director of
Horticulture. The mulch used at Olbrich is made from leaves collected in the fall by the City of Madison. After composting over the winter at the Gardens, the leaves are
double-shredded. This process saves the city from hauling the leaves to the Dane County compost site and provides an environmentally sound product. “We’re
recycling the leaves from our city’s own urban forest, not trucking mulch from halfway across the country,” says Epping.

The leaf mulch enriches the soil, regulates soil temperatures, and conserves moisture while reducing weeds and other unwanted growth. Since the leaves are composted outside, leaf mulch breaks down into the soil more than other mulches, adding nutrients to the soil.

For more information call 608-246-4550. Olbrich Botanical Gardens is located in Madison, Wisconsin on the shore of Lake Monona at 3330 Atwood Avenue. Visit Olbrich's website at www.olbrich.org.

Olbrich Botanical Gardens is owned and operated by the City of Madison Parks Division in partnership with the Olbrich Botanical Society.