Where's the leaves?

[gumbo2176]

I did my semi-annual run to City Park yesterday with 10 large garbage bags, my rake and the biggest flat shovel I have to gather leaves for my garden. Imagine my shock to see the roadways devoid of leaves and the area where I usually gather them with brand new roadways and no low spots for them to collect. I went home disappointed.

Fast forward to this morning and the wife and I were heading to the local mall to exchange some clothing we got for Christmas. Hers was too big, mine too small.

Near my house are quite a few cemeteries and the groundskeepers were collecting leaves and cutting grass. I scored 9 huge bags of leaves and 3 bags of grass clippings all for the effort of removing them from their trailer and placing them in the bed of my pickup truck. When we got home, I dumped the leaves in the garden between the rows and the grass clippings in the compost pile to hopefully be ready by March.

[Avonnow]

Leaves - how sad it is not to find them. I live where we have mostly palms in our yard and bamboo. We have no leaves therefore no browns for the compost. I literally shredd all paper bags and toliet rolls and paper towel rolls to get my browns. Thanks to the recent freezes here, the leaves starting falling. I couldn't get my neighbors as they treat everything, but I found some a few blocks away and I think the people thought I was crazy when asked and I hauled 4 bags (SUPER LARGE) away. I seemed alittle greedy but heck no one else was asking. I want to have enough. Question - How long will they last in plastic bags? I don't want to add them all to the pile. I took two bags and mowed them all down to shred them and mixed them in, will the other bags last a few months, so I can add alittle at a time, or should I take them out of the bags and make another pile. Maybe I will go to the compost forum. The simplest things make us happy -

[rainbowgardener]

They last quite well in plastic bags. I go out in the fall and collect bags full of leaves people put out at the curb. Most of those are in brown paper yard waste bags. But sometimes I go out with plastic bags and a rake and take piles of leaves people have made. You can still use them in your compost pile months later. If some of them have started to break down already, there's no harm in that. I use my bagged leaves in the compost pile a little at a time, to cover the "greens" I put in. Last year they lasted until June, when I ran out.

[soil]

if you leave them in the bags long enough, youll end up with leaf mold ready for garden use.

[Dixana]

How long does that take in plastic bags soil?
I was disappointed in the amount of leaves people left out to the curb this year. Too many people around here have riding mowers with mulchers and just mow the leaves and leave them to fertilize their lawns.

[soil]

well I usually leave a few in the bags on accident laying around. usually when I come to find some mulch in the spring they are good enough,and wont cause any N drawback. sometimes I even find loads of worms. if you have enough bags though its better to just make a bin for the leaves to make leaf mold.

[Avonnow]

Well I got more today, I could have taken tons, everyone had leaves, but my husband is looking at me like I am crazy - between the gala of Xmas lights in the garden for warmth, (thank the stars those neighbors have no windows on that side of the house - they would be blinded), the plastic bin full of empty milk jugs for water to hold the Agribon cover down, and now bags and bags of leaves for the compost - I may have taken more of the back yard then I should have. So I am going to wait see if my mom will store some for me at her house. Also I bite - what is leaf mold and do I want it and where?

[rainbowgardener]

Leaf mold (sometimes called leaf mould) is just what leaves break down into, when they are left to break down by themselves, not mixed with anything. It is a very dark, fine textured kind of compost. It has nothing to do with regular mold, the fungus.

[garden5]

Good score, Gumbo. It is good to stock up now on your browns since they will be scarce when your compost-making gets into full swing.

Thanks for the info on leaf mold. I would think that it would be very high in fungi levels since they are the primary decomposers of leaves.