Paris Alston: This is GBH's Morning Edition. We are starting the day with a little chill, but that stunning sunrise we had is setting the tone for a beautiful day ahead. And if you've been wondering when you'll get to see that color on those leaves pop in, this week may be the one. It is peak foliage week across the state. So take it all in before that raking and bagging begins.
Jeremy Siegel: You know, Paris, I actually saw an article in the Times this week that says you don't actually need to rake your leaves.
Alston: For real? Couldn't that kind of hurt your lawn a little bit?
Siegel: I am not qualified to answer that question, but we have on the line one person who certainly is: GBH meteorologist and gardening expert Dave Epstein. Good morning, Dave.
Dave Epstein: Good morning, Jeremy. Good morning, Paris. Good to see you. Yeah, as a matter of fact, when Paris was saying that about raking it bagging, I was like, Well, I'm going to have to kind of jump in on that. And then you jumped in. So you are correct, you know, you don't really have to clean up your leaves. So, you know, if you if you think about just nature, leaves fall. Nobody bags them up. Theu just stay in the woods and they get broken down. But to Paris's point, what about the lawn? So it depends on what kind of leaves are falling on the lawn. If you have just oak leaves, they'll kind of rattle around. They have a lot of airiness to them. They're more crispy so they don't mat down the grass. But if you have like maple leaves especially, they can get matted down on the lawn and they can actually damage the grass. So what I would say is: it's also an esthetic thing a little bit. So I try to leave the leaves in the beds that are further away from the house so that they're protecting the plants. They're great cover for little critters, insects and things like that all winter. But my lawn, I do clean up the leaves. And the immediate beds right around the house that I sort of look out at all winter, I just don't like it too messy-looking. So I kind of have a little bit of a balance on what I do. But I have been leaving a lot more leaves. And I actually chipped my leaves up and they just get thrown back in the garden anyway. Bagging them and giving them to somebody else to compost doesn't seem like something I want to do Because they're really valuble.
Alston: I was gonna say, at least you're not wasting them.
Epstein: Yeah, they're great. They're great stuff.
Alston: Wow. Okay. Well, let's talk a little bit more about the leaves themselves, Dave. And we talked about this a bit last time, I think, we chatted with you, and about how they get their colors, obviously with the light coming through. But now that it's getting colder out, what causes those bright reds and the glowing oranges, especially if we don't have as much light?
Epstein: Yeah. So the chemistry of the leaf color is actually that there's chlorophyl which is present. That's why things are green. You probably remember that from elementary school. And then as the chlorophyl stops being manufactured, the colors that are ever-present there, the yellows and the oranges which are made up of carotenoids and flavonoids, start coming out. So there's also the yellow, which is lutein. Same thing that you see in eggs, a yellowy kind of color. But the really cool thing is the anthocyanins, they actually get manufactured now. So they're not ever-present. Those kind of get turned on in the leaves as the daylight shrinks and as we get colder temperatures. So the red color is not ever-present. So yellow and orange there shows up. After the chlorophyl, the red comes out. And if you think about something like an apple that starts ripening and turning red, that's that same red color that's coming out during the course of the season.
Siegel: Well, that's fascinating. Dave, we also have a few questions from our listeners and a reminder that if you ever have a question for meteorologist Dave Epstein, you can text them to us at 617-300-2008. This one comes from Susanne, who is mentioning that even though we have not gotten our first frost yet — it doesn't seem like we have, right? It's still getting a lot cooler, especially overnight. We talked a little bit about bringing things in from the garden. But Susanne is curious, like with growing things like tomatoes, where there might be some things out there that still aren't ripe, is it a good idea as it's getting a lot colder out to just pluck everything and bring it in now, or risk keeping things out, but then losing them as it gets colder?
Epstein: Yeah, I'd say that like if you take tomatoes specifically, what tends to happen is they start to get a little bit spotty with some disease just because it's colder. They're not really ripening too quickly because the daylight is so low at this point. I think it's going to be fairly warmer. I know it's going to be fairly warm up through Saturday. So you could leave them on the vine. I think I would probably take them in this weekend. And if they don't ripen, what I do is, is I just look for some recipes with green tomatoes. You can make a green tomato relish. You can certainly do fried green tomatoes. You know, you can just sautee them green with a little bit of balsamic and some olive oil, that makes a nice sort of side dish with some rice or something like that. So there's all sorts of things you can do with the green tomatoes. And I'd say the same thing for eggplants, peppers and all that other stuff. In terms of spinaches, lettuces, they can handle a little bit of a frost. So I'd leave those in the garden till we really have below 28, 27 or something like that.
Alston: Well, meteorologist, gardening expert and chef Dave Epstein, thank you so much. Good to talk to you as always.
Epstein: You're welcome. Good to be here.
Siegel: You're listening to GBH's Morning Edition.
Meteorologist Dave Epstein is our go-to person for pressing weather questions on everything from winter blizzards to summer droughts. He’s also a horticulturist, meaning he’s an expert in anything that grows leaves and flowers. GBH's Morning Edition asked our audience for weather and gardening questions, and Epstein graciously answered them on the air. This transcript has been edited for clarity.
Have a gardening or weather question for meteorologist Dave Epstein? Tweet him @GrowingWisdom, email us at thewakeup@wgbh.org, or text 617-300-2008.
What should I do with all the leaves falling on my lawn and in my garden?
Sometimes, Epstein said, it’s best to leave those leaves alone.
“You don't really have to clean up your leaves,” he said. “If you think about just nature, leaves fall. Nobody bags them up. They just stay in the woods and they get broken down.”
Sometimes those leaves can be beneficial, he said. They can protect plants from the harsh winter cold and snow, and provide a more welcoming home for critters.
But some leaves can damage the lawns they fall on, Epstein said.
“It depends on what kind of leaves are falling on the lawn,” he said. “If you have just oak leaves, they'll kind of rattle around. They have a lot of airiness to them. They're more crispy so they don't mat down the grass. But if you have like maple leaves especially, they can get matted down on the lawn and they can actually damage the grass.”
Epstein said he takes a balanced approach. He’ll rake the leaves off his lawn and in garden beds close to his house, and let the leaves further into the garden be.
“I actually chipped my leaves up and they just get thrown back in the garden anyway,” he said. “Bagging them and giving them to somebody else to compost doesn't seem like something I want to do, because they're really valuable.”
I am in Belmont where the temps are forecast to go down to 38, or maybe even lower. What should I pick and bring in, and what might I leave on the vine? — Susanne
While the days are getting shorter and colder, some fruits and vegetables still ripening on the vine are unlikely to get fully ripe, Epstein said.
“If you take tomatoes specifically, what tends to happen is they start to get a little bit spotty with some disease just because it's colder,” he said. “They're not really ripening too quickly because the daylight is so low at this point.”
For things like tomatoes, peppers and eggplant, Epstein recommended picking them this weekend and finding uses for less-than-ripe nightshades.
“You can make a green tomato relish. You can certainly do fried green tomatoes, you can just sauté them green with a little bit of balsamic and some olive oil, that makes a nice sort of side dish with some rice or something like that,” he said.
For people growing greens like spinach and lettuce: Leave them in the ground for a bit longer.
“They can handle a little bit of a frost. So I'd leave those in the garden till we really have below 28, 27 or something like that,” he said.
