toxcrusadr
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It's Fall - time to save up those leaves!

It's fall. Time to rob bags of leaves off the curbside or ask your neighbors for them, stack them up out of sight in the back yard and use them during winter and next spring and summer. Some of us real nut cases even ask city crews that suck up leaves to dump a load in the driveway. :-]

I make a bin out of wire fencing to pile leaves in and use them out of there all winter to layer with kitchen scraps in the compost bin. I also lay the tomato cages around one of the garden beds as a sort of corral, and fill it with leaves. They smash down admirably and more can be added. That pile usually gets used in spring to mix with early grass clippings to make nutritious mulch and to fill the compost bins which have just been emptied to use on the garden.

Leaves rock! :-()

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ElizabethB
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Tox - my season is March - live oak. Still have some from last spring.

imafan26
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Leaves are great if you have them. I have lots of plumeria leaves but they have plumeria rust, so they have to go in the trash, but it is a good reminder.

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rainbowgardener
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Yes, it is timely. I just used the last of the dozen yard waste bags of leaves I collected last fall. I do drive around the neighborhood and scarf up bags that people set out on their curb. A dozen is all I have room to store, but if I wanted more, I could bring home more!

They are great for the compost pile and as mulch. These days for mulch I like to mix them with some greens also, grass clippings, pulled weeds, etc. Just like in the compost pile, I think the mulch breaks down better and is a more complete soil additive that way.

toxcrusadr
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I find that grass clippings can mat down somewhat when used as mulch, but leaves don't break down very fast. If they're mixed up together, they make a mulch that doesn't compact down too fast AND decomposes and feeds the soil. About May or June after the tomatoes and peppers are planted but before it's gotten too hot, I use a big tarp to mix dry leaves and fresh grass clippings and mulch the garden. By fall it's about disappeared - decomposed and fed into the soil. Helps with the hot dry summer, suppresses weeds, AND feeds the soil while skipping the compost pile completely!

TREGRAHOW
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Very little leaf fall yet. In about a month or so I'll be up to my neck in them. My back gate opens onto a municipal park and I use my petrol lawnmower to chop the leaves and collect them. The mower turns the leaves into shreds that don't compact and they break down very quickly. Like the idea of leaf/grass combo as a mulch. I'll give that a try on my allotment. Thanks

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rainbowgardener
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Yeah I've been doing the green/brown mulch for awhile too. I don't have a whole lot of grass clippings, so more of the green may be just pulled weeds or whatever trimmings and deadheadings I have, plus the fall leaves. I do like it. It's easier for me to get a good thick layer of mulch that way and I think just as in the compost pile, a mixture of green and brown breaks down better/faster and is a more complete food for your soil.

keal
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A few months ago I did some web research on composting and came across an article on creating compost with just dried leaves, that it's supposed to be the best compost. I got a leaf shredder and have been gathering all the neighbor's leaves, and have a spinning plastic composter that's now full. I suspect it'll take a year to turn into the dirt-like texture that it's supposed to. But I doubt it'll be enough to help my whole yard. I might need more compost bins. Something tells me it's a waste of time (I'm new to gardening and never made compost before) but if it works out I'll definitely post my results of using strictly dry leaf compost. If anyone can tell me this is a waste of time, or can tell me how to better use the leaves, I'm all ears! I don't yet have a confident green thumb, but I have no fear of experimenting :) For now I'm buying gardening soil for all my planting projects, but am looking forward to being able to recycle things in my yard to keep my plants growing!

pow wow
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I find if I add leaves to my garden beds now, by planting time in the spring they have all broken down well into the soil. Of course I have a much longer winter than many of you. We don't plant out until the end of May and we all ready had 4 days of snow about a month ago. Today is going to be very warm and I plan to get on my bike and head for the hills.

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rainbowgardener
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keal, strictly speaking leaves only do not produce compost. What they produce is called leaf mould (unrelated to the stuff that grows on the science experiments in your fridge, it is from the old word for decomposition, mouldering). Leaf mould is excellent stuff for your soil, with a very nice loose texture. It is carbon heavy and does not supply the nitrogen that compost would, so that you would still need to supplement with a nitrogen source. It is especially good for around shrubs and trees, not so much for veggies, that really need the nitrogen. Using leaf mould (only) near your veggies, would actually tend to subtract nitrogen (basic plant food) from your soil as it is broken down more. And using dry leaves only is a much slower decomposition process than mixing the leaves with greener, more nitrogen rich stuff to compost. It may take a year or more of letting the leaves sit before they are very broken down, though maybe less if shredded and turned.

I don't know why you wouldn't want to actually compost. What else are you going to do with all your pulled weeds, food scraps, plant trimmings? Why would you want to put them into the waste stream when they are nitrogen rich and valuable for your garden?

TREGRAHOW
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As the leaves start to fall and the grass in the park is still growing I can just about maintain a 50/50 leaf to grass ratio. Soon it will be mostly leaf and I'll shred that for leaf mould. If I collect extra grass now and keep it dry enough for it not to turn to slop can I mix it with the leaves I'll be getting for the next couple of months? Suggestions please as to how best to keep the grass fairly dry. Perhaps add it to a compost bin then add and mix in the leaves as and when they come? Decisions - decisions.

pow wow
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Did somebody write they don't or don't want to compost? Bad decision. I couldn't imagine not doing so, unless one lives in a highrise.

keal
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rainbowgardener wrote: I don't know why you wouldn't want to actually compost. What else are you going to do with all your pulled weeds, food scraps, plant trimmings? Why would you want to put them into the waste stream when they are nitrogen rich and valuable for your garden?
I'm new to all things gardening, and no one around me has a green thumb ::sigh:: so I'm basically learning from the internet about everything. All those around me who tried composting has given up, because things don't work out. After nearly a year of buying potting soil and other things, I'm realizing that the only way to be a lifelong gardener is to learn to do things on the cheap, which is best! I'm going to focus on creating good compost this year, but I did see an article on creating compost using strictly dry leaves and that it was the best, so I have a bin doing just that. Thanks for pointing out that it's not good for veggies, I'll combine those leaf shreddings with other things and use it for something. My main concern is learning to keep all my plants alive!

We just went through a tropical storm, and for the first time I had to move plants to protected places. I'm thinking of buying an inexpensive greenhouse for those, but this is the first time I had to think about how to protect my potted plants from weather. So I'm going to add 'creating an area for composting' to my list of projects for the year :)

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rainbowgardener
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Do browse in the composting forum and read the composting basics thread. With a few basic principles, composting is not hard. People who fail, most often do because they are trying to be too gadgety, rotating compost barrels and all. The commercially made compost barrels usually hold too much water, don't get enough air through, and don't hold enough volume of materials.

Gardening in Hawaii is a lot different than here in the frozen Midwest, but imafan is a regular contributor and she is in Hawaii also, so should be able to be very helpful to you.

toxcrusadr
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Keal, nothing wrong with making leaf mould but it does take a long time. There is virtually no moisture in brown leaves so you will have to water if your bin has a lid. I use a big circle of mesh fencing and pack leaves into it and keep smashing it down. By the following spring what started as 3 ft. of packed leaves is only 1 ft. tall. I don't cover it so the rain helps keep it watered. It takes 1-1/2 to 2 years to make leaf mould. It's wonderful fluffy stuff that can really help improve texture in heavy soils.

Do compost all your green yard waste too, and kitchen scraps, which you can do all year long. I use some of those leaves to layer with kitchen waste additions to the compost, even during winter. You'll be amazed how much comes out of your kitchen if you use much fresh produce at all. And food waste is high in nutrients and minerals.

TREGRAHOW
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I was talking to fellow Plotholders on our allotments site and mentioned the leaf/grass mix as a mulch; as advocated by toxcrusadr and rainbowgardener in response to a previous post of mine. I was warned that fresh grass in a mulch will (allegedly) introduce wireworm into the soil. Apparently, wireworm will bore into root vegetables and also the roots of brassicas. Any ideas??

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applestar
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I'm pretty sure click beetles (adult form of wireworms) lay eggs in the soil like most beetles. So unless you mix in sod and not just grass clippings, I don't think wireworms would hatch in the mulch. Maybe your friend was thinking about compost piles in which pieces of sod have been added (but sod makes beautiful compost/topsoil once the grass is killed and broken down).

I can understand your concern since wireworms can be such a pest burrowing into root vegs like potatoes.

toxcrusadr
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I have never had a problem with wireworms that I know of. Just not familiar with them as a pest. So I'm no help on this!

nickolas
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Hi everyone. Its currently spring here in Australia but lucky for you guys its fall there, which is my favourite time of year, the main reason I like fall so much is the autumn leaves. Autumn leaves aren’t just beautiful, they also are a valuable resource for your garden. If you are trying to grow any veggies I would recommend you try gathering up and storing as many of these little gems as you can. My homestead property has very poor heavy clay soil. So every year I travel into the city with the pickup truck and 10-5 trailer (which has 6ft sides) and collect as many as I can to last me the rest of the year. Last fall I collected 8 cubic meters (about 282 cubic ft) of Autumn leaves. And now 6 months later its almost all gone, looks like I will need to get twice that amount next time if I want it to last me all the way through. But something tells me I wont ever have enough xD

I feed some to the worms throughout the year but I use them mostly for the garden. Such as in the compost pile’s, as mulch and dug strait into the soil. There is also leaf mould. Leaf mould can hold up to 500 times its own weight in water so is excellent for improving the moisture retaining qualities of your soil. Its also called the lazy mans compost. You don't really have to turn it like normally and unlike true compost you can jump on the leaf mould pile as much as you like and it wont hurt it.

I am always deeply saddened and disappointed when I drive past someone’s front yard and see them burning a pile of leaves. Such a waste…
Autumn leaves are just loaded with organic matter and nutrients for the garden.

One thing to watch out for is depending on what sort of leaves they can compact limiting the amount of oxygen and water which is much needed by plants. So if you are going to use them as mulch it might pay to try shredding them first.
Leaves in the forest provide about 50 to 80 percent of the nutrients that trees receive. Leaves also protect the levels of moisture that reach the trees and also regulate the soil temperature. So I try not to gather leaves from the same trees year after year.

just watch out for black walnut leaves. Happy gardening folks :)

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rainbowgardener
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nice post, nickolas! I envy you being in spring... I have a long hard winter to get through yet and it is just starting. We aren't even in winter yet and Mon it will go down to 22...

I have collected 5 large bags of leaves so far. I usually aim for a dozen and that gets me through most of the year in my small garden.

imafan26
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The first time I tried to do a compost pile, it actually grew all kinds of weeds. I had too many greens in it and it did not heat up. It became a slimy mess, but eventually I did get about a foot of compost from it. Don't be discouraged. We all learn from our mistakes. My early success was bag composting. It is easy and and while it only makes a little, it solved the weeds staying alive in the compost problem.

It is easy to bag compost. Get a large trash bag, I use contractor bags because they are stronger. Fill the bag with well chopped greens and browns. I find it easier to chop everything on the ground before I put it in the bag. I don't have a lot of browns so I used shredded newspaper for some of the browns. 2-4 inches for each layer is about right. Browns on the outside and greens on the inside. Added a little fertilizer or manure and some soil for the microbe source. Wet everything down after you have done a layer of each. It should be damp not dripping wet. Then I sealed the bag and punched holes in the bag to let air in but not so much that stuff fell out. Piled the bags on top of each other. Once a week, turned the bags. It was the easiest way to turn the pile and I could keep adding bags as I had more materials without interfering with the other bags cooking. In the end, I had about a few inches of compost in each bag. It wasn't much but it was my first success.

I have since graduated, since I still don't have a lot of browns, just tons of weeds and greens, so I do vermi composting instead. Much easier, the worms do the turning.

If you want a lot of compost and you have the space then the standard compost pile is the way to go. The composting forum should help a lot there. Even if your pile does not heat up, cold composting works, it just takes longer and you have to use clean inputs.

toxcrusadr
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TREGRAHOW: Kinda slow responding to your question, but if you add a lot of grass clippings to a compost bin, they will turn to a hot slimy mess without some browns. You CAN save grass, it has to be dried in the sun in a thin layer till it's brown. It retains most of its nitrogen that way.

What I do is save leaves (or other browns - sawdust, etc.) in bags instead of trying to save greens. Greens will generally start decomposing immediately whether you want them to or not, but browns can keep a long time without losing the property you need - I.e., high carbon. So I pile leaves into a big wire bin till spring and mix them with all that green grass then.

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rainbowgardener
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I collect bags of fall leaves. Then all through the year I layer them in to the compost pile a bit at a time. Every time I add any greens (kitchen scraps, pulled weeds, trimmings, etc) to the pile, I cover them with a layer of leaves. So the greens go in right away as they appear, but the browns are saved up and used as needed to mix with the greens.

nickolas
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its finally Autumn here!!! I'm building a new cage for the 10 x 5 trailer soon. bought all the materials today. 1"x1" mesh and 1" angle iron. its going to be 5ft 2" tall. it will hold 282 cubic feet of LEAVES!!!! of course we will use the cage for other stuff but mostly collecting Autumn leaves for the garden. will be doing many trips and filling it up many times. will post pics when its full!



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