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Old 06-02-2003, 05:32 PM
animaux
 
Posts: n/a
Default leaf mold and compost

I have two or three things going on in my garden at the same time. The leaves I
collected last year in the garbage of the hoi palloy who rake everything into
sterility are now ready as leaf mold. I use that on shrubs and trees to provide
the worms something readily available.

I have another pile going of the free, shredded pine trees they give away for
free at the city of Austin. That is all the foliage from the trees (needles)
and wood which is fresh, almost green. Together, those make a nice hot compost
after about two months.

Then there's the compost which comes naturally from spent stems, flower heads,
ornamental grasses. I leave that debris right where I cut it from, around the
individual plants.

Another pile which is going comes from two bales of alfalfa hay which I leave to
rot down on it's own. I can make tea from it, or dress it into the soil around
trees and shrubs to give a low, nitrogen boost in the fall. I use the bales to
do what's called Haybale Gardening. I grow melons in the bales. They rot down
and I use the rotted hay.

So, to answer your question I'd have to say you should do what you are
comfortable with, taking into consideration how much room you have. I have half
acre. I have plenty of room for brush piles here and there and compost heaps.
You can buy a pricey tumbler, but why. If you don't want to buy a tumbler, you
can get out with a pitchfork every weekend and turn the leaves. Always make
sure they are somewhat moist, never dried out. It's a delicate balance of
moisture you need to achieve if you want to make leaf mold.


On Thu, 6 Feb 2003 08:53:13 -0600, "mmarteen" wrote:

I just finished reading Four Season Harvest by Eliot Coleman (not that my
expectations are that high here in MN) and he advocates using scraps and
straw to make compost and using leaves to make leaf mold. Leaf mold seems
to be a much more lengthy process from the way he describes it in the book,
where you have to keep leaves sort of composting by themselves for over a
year.

If I am already going to make compost and I am not running an organic farm
like Coleman, should I try to make leaf mold or just compost some and bag
the rest? Opinions?

Other than chopping up the leaves, is there anything else I can do to make
the process go faster? For example, will a tumbling composter, either
storebought or homemade, make the process go faster just as with compost?

mm