Dig out a hillside for mulched leaves?

9 years ago

I have a pull behind DR vacuum that I use to mulch my leaves and put on my garden.

They don't decompose over the winter and they cause problems when I plow and plant in the spring. Too many leaves in certain areas.

I am thinking of digging out a place on a hill that I have on the backside of my land and dumping the leaves there this fall.

I have a backhoe with a front end loader that I bought last summer so it will not be a lot of manual labor.

I can dig in to the hillside and make an assessable hole for my front end loader. Then I can dump from above which will be easier since the vacuum trailer is hard to dump. Not high enough from the ground. So that would make dumping easier.

Then in the spring I can use the front end loader to scoop up the leaves and use for mulch instead of buying straw.

Anyone see a downside to this?

Comments (5)

toxcrusadr
9 years ago
Sounds good if you can keep the disturbed hillside from eroding.

If you had more greens you could compost those leaves, but I imagine you've thought of that.
wertach zone 7-B SC
Original Author
9 years ago
I don't think I'll have an erosion problem since I plan to be digging it close to the top of the hill.

I plan to dig just below the top so that I have enough drop to dump the leaves.

I won't have any greens when I pile them in the fall, almost everything will be brown by then.
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glib
9 years ago
greens are not hard to come by. I guess that 1 lb urea greens 100 lbs of leaves. if it is underground, most of it will not leach.
Kimmsr
9 years ago
The Carbon to Nitrogen ratio of leaves varies from about 35:1 (close to the optimum of 30:1) to 60:1 depending on the age of the leaves. I have had piles of shredded leaves get quite warm when they were freshly fallen with no additional Nitrogen added. However, a little extra N in the mix, along with just enough moisture, should be all that is needed for the bacteria to get to work.
wertach zone 7-B SC
Original Author
9 years ago
Thanks to all! When I gets cooler I'll get to digging!