On Thu, 22 Apr 2004 09:51:38 -0400, Peter wrote:
some time back around December, a few posters were extolling the virtues of leaf mulch.
One person (paghat, I think it was) mentioned putting the leafs into a chicken wire
enclosure and keeping them wet, claiming that they would break down in a few months
into leaf mulch.

Well, I went into the chicken wire enclosure, and found piles of wet leaves and no
leaf mulch. Doesn't look like anything happened at all over the past few months.
Packed about 40 bags of dead leaves and dropped them off at the landfill.
You took 40 bags of good organic material and threw it in a landfill
with the other toxic elements? What were you thinking?

Just kidding, with a little ribbing. I'm too lazy to do such a thing
so its easy for me to laugh. I do think its a waste of good material,
40 bags worth! It may be good for the landfill to get some good
organics in there to mutate
So, what is the secret??? Obviously getting leaf mulch from leaves seems to be more
of an involved process than just stacking the leaves, keeping them wet and turning
every now and then.
Obviously one secret is a little patience. A few months, especially
over the winter, is not a long time to wait for leaves to break down.
Another secret is maintaining green vs brown, proper moisture, size,
light, etc. THat can speed things up a lot.

Except for trying to get a reasonable mix of green vs brown, I don't
bother much myself. Not enough patience for that. I place piles out
of the way, and do eventually get some good dark compost. I don't
know exactly how long. Just eventually, and I can wait.

If you're willing to take on the work to drag 40 bags worth of leaves
to the landfill, then the work it takes to turn them into good mulch
instead is well within you're grasp.
Peter

Swyck