As winter approaches and I think about my plants, I’m glad I moved to mulching more of my leaves for them. They are a little warmer this winter for it. They are less likely to experience frost heaving. I’m keeping nutrients in my landscape.

Leaves — some people see them as waste for disposal. I see mulch, compost and organic matter for my garden.

But I didn’t always. Two summers ago, we moved to our current small house surrounded by mature trees.

Our village hauls away leaves if we haul them to the street. Last fall, I raked and dragged huge tarp loads of leaves to the street. I was proud of myself. The debris was gone.

Later that fall, I applied to become a Master Gardener Volunteer. Training began in February. It did not take many sessions to learn I was wasting one of nature’s abundant gifts — leaves.

Whole leaves are problematic. They blow around, look messy, mat down, block air and water flow. However, newly shredded leaves are great mulch.

This year, I bought a shredder / mulcher. It was the best investment I ever made.

I didn’t need a heavy duty 7.5-horsepower gasoline powered shredder / mulcher. I also didn’t care for a light duty machine using a weed trimmer-like plastic line.

I fell in love (OK, strong like) with a corded electric machine using 11-inch metal blades. It is lightweight, rolls on wheels and fits neatly in a corner of my shed. I bought the machine online for just less than $250.

It reduces 17 large yard waste bags down to one. For me, that bag ends up initially as mulch in the gardens, or among the landscape plants.

While leaf mulch does not last two to three seasons like bark mulch, the price is right. Within one season, the mulch breaks down, adds organic matter and nutrients including calcium, potassium and magnesium plus food for earthworms.

Pound for pound, leaf mulch does more to improve a garden than any garden product available, suppresses weeds and provides a great growing medium.

Per specifications, my machine should shred twigs up to a half inch. However, my shredding experience is to keep the twigs down to more like a quarter of an inch and preferably shred dry leaves. Larger twigs jam in the blades and wet leaves plug up the discharge grate.

Don’t bother wasting time moving piles of leaves. Gather what you can reach with a rake, scoop them into the shredder, catch mulch in a garden cart, then deliver the load where needed. This involves less dragging of leaves, and uses the convenience of a machine on wheels to relocate to the next area to be cleared.

I did not keep track of how many cubic feet of leaf mulch I collected and repurposed, but I would not be surprised if it exceeded 50 2-cubic-foot mulch bags. Apply the cost per mulch bag multiplier you usually use each spring, but I am pretty sure my machine will pay for itself in two years of use.

In the end, the soil will become more friable, my garden will flourish, I will save money and reduce waste hauled off to a landfill.

More on recycling leaves can be found at http://go.osu.edu/repurposeleaves.