The Best Compost I Have Ever Made

[stella1751]

But is it technically compost?

Two falls ago, I snagged 30 bags of leaves on leaf collection day. I wanted to experiment with making leaf mold. I layered the bottom of my 4' round mesh composting bin with branches and twigs from a tree I had taken down the year before. (These branches and twigs are inherited by the next compost bin each year; they decompose a little but not much.)

I began adding bags of leaves, spreading a thin layer of topsoil between each layer. Over the past 18 months, I've refilled the bin several times because it decays down and down. I make way too much compost for my small garden, so I pretty much forgot about this bin until it came its time to be used.

What a pleasant surprise! This compost is gorgeous: rich, dark brown; crumbly; nothing distinguishable but the branches and large twigs left at the bottom, which are now going at the bottom of the new compost bin I am working on. I want to do this method of composting again and again. This is without a doubt the most beautiful compost I have ever made.

Is it technically compost, though? I've been using it in my compost tea. Am I getting the aerobic activity I need, or am I just fertilzing?

[john gault]

I've wondered this also, basically I came to the conclusion that it's no more/less compost than what's left from the process of decomposition as any other compostable material, whether it be various greens, fish guts, a dead deer or whatever. Now the nutrients provided from the various compost ingredients will differ, but they all become compost, IMHO.

However, I know some will disagree, but to me it's all boils down to semantics. Some would argue and say you don't have compost, rather it's leaf mould. I say whatever, it's compost...

I have a little experience in this area since I also collect leaves for my compost, but I also collect them to mulch large sections of my yard. In the largest section, which I mulched nearly two years ago. It was somewhat barren, not growing a healthy carpet of grass, because of all the shade, but also not looking healthy because the rain washed away the topsoil, giving it a gray-sandy/ashy look to it, very ugly. So I layed down a very thick layer of leaves, bulk from live oaks, and today the top soil is crumbly with worm casting. If I rake back the leaves I see tons of redwigglers, along with many other soil organisms.

I've found that if I need potting soil I don't have to go to my compost pile, I just go to the egde of this mulched area and there's all I could ever need.

[stella1751]

Good! I love this stuff. I've been using it all summer, mulching with it and making compost tea with it. Today I scooped up what's left, 5 pails of it. I'm starting a new bin with the branches and large twigs that are left. I think I have enough leaves left to fill it to the top one time. By the time late fall rolls around, it should be compacted down to a two-foot high pile and ready for more.

I should have done this years ago. I always have to turn my piles two or even three times to get compost this lovely, and even then there are still pieces left that are only partially finished. If I instead fill the bins with leaves layered with soil, I won't have to turn it at all. The outer crust becomes leaf mold for mulching; the inner portion becomes black gold.

[resin]

sounds great, I like a good compost story.

I would think by placing the branches and twigs at the base, this most likely allows for better drainage and aeration of the compost on top creating a more consistant decay of the material?
Adding the soil probably inherently brings with it bacteria and worms ready to eat the leaves and break them down.

Alex.

[cynthia_h]

I agree with the immediately preceding poster: the bacteria and other microörganisms in the soil that you added to the leaves created a different substance from "regular" leaf mold. That's why you have such wonderful, friable compost ready to hand.

The Smart Gardener's Way to Make Compost! Well, at least a smart gardener who has access to bagged leaves...a system not used here in the "forward-thinking" (just ask 'em ) East Bay. Gotta put those leaves in the plastic rolling waste cart! Can't let the neighbors know when you rake up leaves! Oh, no! Much more fun to make 'em ask on Freecycle, Can they rake up your leaves? Or rake 'em up late in the year from the streets....

Can you tell that I'm not all *that* impressed with leaf-gathering hereabouts?!

And I'm so glad to see you posting again, Stella; I hope you're feeling much better.

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

[stella1751]

I agree with the immediately preceding poster: the bacteria and other microörganisms in the soil that you added to the leaves created a different substance from "regular" leaf mold. That's why you have such wonderful, friable compost ready to hand.

The Smart Gardener's Way to Make Compost! Well, at least a smart gardener who has access to bagged leaves...a system not used here in the "forward-thinking" (just ask 'em ) East Bay. Gotta put those leaves in the plastic rolling waste cart! Can't let the neighbors know when you rake up leaves! Oh, no! Much more fun to make 'em ask on Freecycle, Can they rake up your leaves? Or rake 'em up late in the year from the streets....

Can you tell that I'm not all *that* impressed with leaf-gathering hereabouts?!

And I'm so glad to see you posting again, Stella; I hope you're feeling much better.

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

I'm feeling much better, thanks! I still have to drag an elephant leg with me everywhere I go, but my blood is thinning, so I'm not in as much danger as I was. I was in terrific pain there for a while and lost about three weeks, garden-wise, planting two beds much later than I should have. Such is life. Even watering was a huge endeavor for a while.

I am truly blessed in the leaf department. One block away lies a huge leaf collection pile each fall, bags and bags of the stuff. Even better, it's from a group of senior citizens, so the leaves are clean with no unpleasant surprises. I got so many in fall 2009 that I didn't even visit it in 2010. My neighbor has been bagging his and throwing them over the fence to me, and I didn't so much as look at them until yesterday.

I have two bins of the old stuff that I need to process before fall. After that, I'm doing all leaves. This is less "Smart Gardener" and more "Lazy Gardener." I'm getting too old to turn piles this size

[soil]

I love leaf mold compost, some of the best stuff it is.

you are getting all the nutrient cycling microbes from it, do not worry. in fact its probably MORE fertile than your hot compost.

every year we make a huge leaf mold pile and in the end get a yard or so of compost/castings in the middle and bottom of the pile. it makes for AMAZING mulch too, the best.

[cynthia_h]

....

The Smart Gardener's Way to Make Compost! Well, at least a smart gardener who has access to bagged leaves....

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

....
I am truly blessed in the leaf department. .... My neighbor has been bagging his and throwing them over the fence to me, and I didn't so much as look at them until yesterday.

I have two bins of the old stuff that I need to process before fall. After that, I'm doing all leaves. This is less "Smart Gardener" and more "Lazy Gardener." I'm getting too old to turn piles this size

I stand by my original assessment of The Smart Gardener's Way to Make Compost. "Work smarter, not harder" is one of those sayings that you have now personified! Maybe from necessity or serendipity, but recognizing the "happy accident" for what it is and realizing what it means for you is the "smart" part!

Good for you.

Cynthia

[john gault]

....

I stand by my original assessment of The Smart Gardener's Way to Make Compost. "Work smarter, not harder" is one of those sayings that you have now personified! Maybe from necessity or serendipity, but recognizing the "happy accident" for what it is and realizing what it means for you is the "smart" part!

Good for you.

Cynthia

Yes, no need to do all that work; there's trillions of workers out there just salivating to do the work for you. All you need to do is create an environment for them and then stand back and watch.