I use Oak leaves to cover my roses in the winter.
I got some off of a pile where the city, sucked them off of the parks lawns (This area is full of oak trees) and they were chopped up, but I found full leaves were better for what I used them for.
Now it used to be mostly oak leaves, they work best for insulating factors, but due a change in methods I no longer search them out.
Anyway, when I uncover the roses, I often put them around the plants , or over the potatoes to keep the weeds down, and keep the soil moist.
By fall what was 12 to sixteen inches of mulch is down to less than an inch or simply gone.
As far a Nitrogen on the tomatoes, they are related to potatoes and will put out more green vegetation with more Nitrogen but unlike potatoes it usually does not hurt fruit production.
It can as it did for me last year cause so much vegetation that you will be out trimming off excess, often, or the largest plants will smother those near by.
By near by I mean plants as much as three feet away.
I use mostly cages made out of re-rod and when they top a cage four feet high they head out of for virgin territory.
I also used to save my coffee ground in buckets all winter.
I drink a lot of coffee so by spring I had several containers of odoriferous coffee grounds.
Worms are good for the soil and if you want worms to enrich your soil just put some coffee grounds around the plants you like best.
Now I just walk out in garden and dump them in one spot in the garden all winter. If the snow is not too deep in the compost heap otherwise a spot that is handy.
They do not lose their value out in the frozen pile.
