easy compost

[hay]

I make compost and it's so easy, it's almost sinful. In the fall when the leaves are falling, I mulch tons of leaves with the riding mower. I put them in barrels, boxes, old large plastic pots and some just dumped in piles on the ground. Sprinkle a bit of Blood meal, Bone meal and Wood ash over them and let them sit for a year or more. In the end, there is the most beautiful crumbly leaf mold compost ready for use. Very little work, no turning, no odors and never bothered by animals. If ya want the compost to be more broken down, simply leave it in the container longer and it will get almost as fine a dirt after a time. Don't work so hard for compost, let nature do it for you.

[Sage Hermit]

Its good that you are secure and confident enough to post this awesome thread. I need to know about leaf mold. Its purpose in the compost chain of events Sorry I have nothing to add but this Q:

Thanks for the advice on leaves. I was confused about what leaf mold is.

[top_dollar_bread]

leaf mold is a a brown, carbon. I find that more carbon is good for great compost.
great easy compost by the way

[Cagolddigger]

Think of leaf mold as: When you walk through a forest and you kick all the leaves away and you see what is underneath them. It has that dark, rich, decomposed matter underneath.

Just run some leaves through the mower (this helps speed up the process) and place them in a pile. If they're dry, give them some water. Just let them sit. Turn them a couple times in a year and that's it.

Carrots and any of the cabbage families love leaf mold.

[a0c8c]

Throw in some greens and you can turn that year into a couple months. And I rarely turn mine, actually pretty much never.

[GardenGeek]

Great post hay
We need such posts. You indeed made compost making easy! Compost making looks more fun and easy job when someone tells his own experience or way of making compost and you just did it

[hay]

I have been making compost/leaf mold like this for some many years. I also put down tons of leaves in the garden row middles and let them rot for a few years and then turn the rows over onto the rotted compost and make a new row that already has the natural compost underneath. Works good for me. This is no joke, I really do this and it works great. Nowadays since my physical condition is not as great as it used to be, I mostly just use raised beds and layer the rotted leaf mold on top and toss old potting soil on top of that. Builds up the soil great and I have lots of worms working in there. Don't work so hard for leaf mold compost, let nature do the hard work.

[hay]

MarlinGardener, I had to spray the leaves with water a lot because of the dry climate here and that helped to pack them in and even sometimes, I would throw a bit of dirt on top to keep them from blowing away. Nowadays, MOST of my gardening is raised beds and with the used potting soil on top, I have no trouble with leaves blowing off. I also have several containers of old leaf mold that is composted down quite fine and I am going to spread that on top soon for my roses. I just love the late summer and fall when leaves are falling so I can mulch themwith the LM and bag them. What a rush to get nice dark crumbly composted leaf mold in a year and no turning or other work beside spreading them. Ain't nature wonderful to help out like that? BTW, are you near Marlin, Texas?

[applestar]

Carrots and any of the cabbage families love leaf mold.

As you know leaf mold is a primarily fugal compost. I found what you said REALLY interesting because I'm planning to companion plant with mushrooms. According to Paul Stamets, Hypsizygus ulmarius (Elm Oyster or Garden Oyster) mushrooms grown with Brussels sprouts and other brassicas resulted in significantly greater Brussels sprout development, and Pleurotus eryngii (King Oyster) mushrooms has a symbiotic preference for Umbelliferae -- plants in the carrot family.

[GardenJester]

I save the leaves too, but I use them in my tumbler during the growing season, when there's a lot of greeny waste but not enough carbon sources.

[Gary350]

I am atempting to try this. I mixed about 10 gallons of my compost with about 3 gallons of wood ash. It looks like grass clipping covered with gray powder.

I notice about the center 3/4 of my compost is like modeling clay. Black mud. The outer edge and top are still grass clippings.