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Making leaf compost?
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Posted by Blessedwith4 z3b, Central AB (My Page) on Wed, Jul 28, 04 at 12:45
| What exactly is the procedure? Just pile the leaves up and let them break down? Does it need to be chopped up? I'm thinking this fall I'll get dh to mow and bag it for me.
I have compost, small amount..lol. I have a worm compost bin, so it's year round. This is our first year. It's almost ready to cultivate the first batch. It smells so lush. I put in the pulp froma melon, and then, every seed sprouted, like 200!!! OOPS. Now i know what to use to start seeds |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Making leaf compost?
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| When you compost only leaves, you get leaf mould. While similar to compost it is a bit different in both pH as well as in nutrient balance. I make leaf mould by doing just what you said. I fill the wire ring with leaves and then just leave them till next year. Good Gardening! Aubrey |
RE: Making leaf compost?
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| You can break it down faster by layering "greens" (nitrogen-rich material) between layers of the dried leaves. The nicest, easiest, cheapest way I know to add greens is to stop by your neighborhood Starbucks or other coffee house or restaurant that sells lots of coffee or tea, & pick up their "trash": their used coffee & tea grounds!
Even though these materials are brown in color, they are rich in nitrogen, & so they are "greens". Starbucks has its own program, but lots of places will give you the material if you ask. You might take them a wastebasket & some plastic liners, & be sure to pick up the material as often as they want it out of their way. You can also use grass clippings between the leaves. Have fun! |
RE: Making leaf compost?
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| Compost is, in fact, a great seed starter! :) As another poster said, leaf mould is fine and easy, though for me it can take two seasons, not just one. Compost (tm) needs some ntirogen materials added to it. The ideal ration is either 2:1 or 3:1 in volume; so 2 or 3 bags of carborn for every one bag of nitrogen. I probably tend to use more 3:1 because I live on a wooded lot and have tons of trees and therefore leaves! For some reaosn my cottonwood is *already* dropping its leaves. I'm very laissez-faire about my lawn "care," so I waited a week or so for most of the fallen leaves to dry out... and when I bag my clippings this afternoon, I will have a ready-made nitrogen-carbon mix! Hoorah! |
Want to know how to make leaf mold FAST?
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| If you have a paved area, put it there; it's especially good if there is a wall to support it on one side. The pavement keeps the moisture in and the worms get in there and really do a number on those leaves. In no time at all, you'll have leaf mold that is to die for. Time estimate--depends on the amount of rain you get. But I've had superb leaf mold in 5-6 six weeks using this method. Cher |
RE: Making leaf compost?
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| Cher makes a good point about rain/moisture. My leaves are in a dry location under a roof overhang and I never remember to water them. That's my my leaf mold took about two years. If you add water or just put it where rain can hit it, it will go much faster! Monica |
RE: Making leaf compost?
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I bought some cheap bagged soil at WM and was I ever sorry. Being a frugal gardener I was unwilling to throw it out. So I layered it in a kiddie pool (holes poked in bottom for drainage) with lots of leaves, stirring it with a trowel. As the leaves started to break down and condition the soil I added more leaves, then more soil and leaves. My nasty soil became real nice after about 5 months. Still have several bags of the cheap stuff so I'm going to do it again. I save bagged leaves behind my garage so I always have some around but I'm getting low. Fall will be here soon and I'll bag more. Frugal gardening is the way to go!
TrowelGal |
RE: Making leaf compost?
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| You can save yourself some time and effort by locating your compost bin under the trees themselves. I simply take a length of flexible, coiled fencing and stand it on end. It automatically forms a circular enclosure. Since I have located it under a grove of trees, the leaves automatically fall into the bin. When I want to turn the pile, I simply lift off the enclosure, stir it and then put the enclosure back on top of the pile. |
RE: Making leaf compost?
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| Will any leaves of any kind do? Suzi |
RE: Making leaf compost?
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| FWIW, my town vacuums up curbside deposits of leaves every year. A phone call to the town manager gets me as many truckloads of mixed leaves as I want for free. Last year I got 60 cubic yards. The vacuuming process semi-shreds the leaves. Deposited where I wanted them on the back part of my property, exposed to rain, and on my days off from work I pee in a bucket and toss that over them. Human urine is heavy in nitrogen and pathogen free, so it really accelerates the breakdown process. |
RE: Making leaf compost?
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| I need to lower the PH level in my yard (its 8.5) and the suggestion was to add compost using oak leaves because of their acidity. This I intend to do mulching leaves I bring in with my mower then I can rototill them into the soil. I have been reading about "Fast Composting" and I think I have a fantastic solution. Anybody ever clean out their gutters? Full of leaves with that heavy black sludge in the bottom? Looks like fully composted leaves to me!! I'll be cleaning out every gutter in the county.....hahaah but it has to be rich in everything I need including the microbes needed to break down the new leaves I'm mixing into the yard. |
RE: Making leaf compost?
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| Probably down south, you'll get the pine needles out of the gutters, what about the whirlybirds from the oaks? With the pine straw comes the red bug/jiggers? We used to have a man that had a garden and when grass cutting time came, he'd drive around the neighborhoods on weekends in an old station wagon and if he saw you out mowing, he would stop and ask if he could have all your bagged grass clippings. Guess the grass clippings could have been used to keep the weeds out of his garden or used as compost? Back then, you could put them out to the curb in black or clear plastic bags..not anymore. They have to be in those tall paper bags that cost 50 cents each. When they put those on sale, we always bought several packs at a time. Still do but since our lawn mowing and maintence is done for us, we don't use as many of those bags. |
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