I have a giant pile of chopped leaves, Now What?!!

Hi, oh, you wise ones (obsessed from what I can read) about compost!

Instead of having the lawn service haul away the leaves from our (50) ash trees, I asked them to chop them up and leave them in a big pile near my garden. About 10 ft x 10 ft x 4 ft.

So, now what do I do with them? This is what I want to do: do my ideas seem reasonable?

I want to cover some of my perennial beds for winter protection--so I assume some chopped leaves could be used for that. Right?

I want to make some kind of compost for next spring BUT not use kitchen waste or a bin or pen. Can I just layer in some alfalfa pellets and some nitrogen fertilizer of some kind and get nice compost in the spring?

I want to make a new lasagna bed in the spring--or should I make it now? (It's getting cold out but I could still get out there and do some work if it would be useful.)

Or should I burn 'em?!

Please let me know how I can best use my leaves with the least amount of mess and fuss. EZ does it!

Thanks. t.

By all means use the leaves as winter cover. You could make a compost pile with just the leaves and add alfalfa pellets, just stir it a bit and maybe water enough get the alfalfa "working". You can certainly make lasanga beds now. They'll be ready to plant in the spring. Google both compost and lasanga for more detailed information on both. I can relate, I just "scored" another 30 bags of wonderful oak and maple leaves this afternoon! DH was so surprised and tickled. Black gold in the making!

Almost all of the above! That much leaf litter is a wonderful gift of nature that will help build and replenish your soil no matter which way you choose to utilize them. Since they are already chopped up they will break down even faster so use them as mulch just as they are. Add grass clippings or alfalfa or any good greens and make a compost pile that will be the envy of gardeners anywhere or make nice fluffy lasagna beds now for nice easy, rich soil to plant in the spring.

Please don't burn them! In doing that you will only be making smog pollution and gain nothing in return!

As for easy and no fuss, if you do nothing at all, that pile will eventually compost down to a wonderful, rich, humus that is invaluable! Adding nitrogen and keeping it damp and turned simply speeds up the process.

Ah, sorry, I wasn't thinking, I don't use commercial fertilizers so didn't think that thru.

With the alfalfa pellets you don't need to add a commercial fertilizer to get the heat up! That equals less fuss and less expense for better results.

Yes indeedy! Good stuffies!

I'd make two nice raised beds right where they stand. Box them in, leave a path down the middle.

tabasco,

Sounds good, I just got another 8 bags myself today. I'm trying to add as many as possible to the pile. Your lucky, you have them all chopped up. By no means burn them.

Dean

Thanks so much for all the confidence and compost building comments!

I guess I will add the alfalfa meal or pellets and let it cook through the winter...oh, and use some to mulch the mixed borders.

It looks like I will have more leaves by next week to add to the pile too, so maybe I can make that raised bed, too!

Should I get a plastic tarp to cover it for the winter or just leave it wide open?

I always thought making compost was about stirring muck and kitchen scraps and icky stuff but if this is all there is to it--chopped leaves and some alfalfa meal/pellets and water-- then why don't all my neighbors do it? (They have more leaves than I do!)

Very interesting...

So what are your neighbors doing with all their leaves? Not burning them I hope! If they are just leaving them on the ground to decompose in a natural setting that is a good thing too. But if they are paying to have them carried off they are wasting a great deal of time and money.

Yes, I'm afraid the lawn services truck them out of our cul de sac for big $$ and then they sell the leaves to the compost/mulch makers I think. Then they sell it back to the homeowners for mulch. It looks like leaves are black gold for the lawn services, doesn't it?

You don't understand, zany and dean are both total obsessed with compost, not me........not much........LOL and yes, the lawn services are PT Barnum boys and girls, "there's one born every minute"........Since you are in OH, yeah you might want to throw a tarp over you pile during the winter. Check it periodically, lovely trek thru the snow and all, etc....May the compost gods smile upon your efforts! LOL

Pt Barnum don't mention them, I might wan't elephant poo!

Yes, I'm afraid Zany and dean would have a heart attack if they saw all the dump trucks loaded with leaves pulling out of the driveways and then just after the dump trucks loaded with mulch pulling in dutifully spreading mulch around. It's a traffic jam out there this week!

There is not a leaf left to see on anyone's lawn, though!

the neighbors are having a holiday coffee next week and I'll be sure to tell everyone about my new DG discovery. I am sure they will be curious about my compost pile.... and I'll let you know what they say!

Save the coffee grounds... LOL!

leavte alone---itll htem in----comp. vi*us---lol

See, see, I told ya............we got the guy corrupted! I'm so proud!! LOL

AMEN on the coffee grounds! I have just gone out and bought 6 five gallon buckets with lids so I can get free rabbit manure! 2 weeks ago the park manager told me I could have the mulched leaves he had just bagged!!! I took home 14 bags of mulched leaves!!!!

I'm trying to find the time and nerve to hit up some local cafe's, Starbucks etc and get them to save me their coffee grounds.

Score! psychw2!! WTG!!!!

psychw2,

I use to go in and buy a coffee now I just ask! LOL!!! I do end up buying one on my rounds.

Yes, it would be more comfortable if I would buy a coffee and then ask but I don't drink it at all. so that technique will not work for me! Guess I'm just going to have to buck up and ask.

You should have heard my husband on the phone when I told him I bought the buckets. "what for?" "to bring home free Rabbit poo of course!"... "why do we need Rabbit poo????" LOL.. he is so tolerant of my gardener habits!

Just hang in there psychw2, your DH is making all the right noises. Honey chile, you gonna have to go all southern here at that ol coffee shop. You just stroll on in and ask to speak to the manager. Explain that your doing composting and you heard they had the best, just absolute best grounds in the biz. Surely they can spare some of those lovely used grounds??????"bat them eyes and big smile, gurl" Dean, you'll have to change tactics somewhat, especially in TX.....LOL

doccat,
Last weekend I had the back of my SUV loaded w/ coffee grounds. Now I have so many leaves. I need more greens.

Dean, where did you go to get so many coffee grounds????

I ought to be able to charm a cafe or two... I used to get the professors to reduce the size of the exam requirements!!! "You want us to write on 6 of the 8 questions? Are you SURE??? If we only wrote on 4 you'd have a LOT less correcting to do and we'd be able to do a better job on it, we only have so much time and we have finals in ALL of our classes..." One semester I got EVERY teacher to reduce their assignments, needless to say my classmates were thrilled with me!! Surely getting free garbage in the form of used coffee grounds ought to be easier than exams!

If your neighbors want to save the hauling fees they may want to have their "trash" leaves chopped up and donated to a neighbor that is willing to put them back into the environment for them. It's the right thing to do for the soil and it is politically correct so it shouldn't take much convincing ;~) And even without the added kitchen scraps and such that may make an upscale neighborhood balk, Leaf mold all by itself is a wonderful thing.

You see! All those life skills you thought you'd never use again. Get more green stuff, dean. Newspapers, babe! The worms love to read or what ever..........LOL Too right zanymuse!

This message was edited Nov 30, 2007 10:19 PM

More green stuff? Isn't the coffee considered "green"? IF not, WHAT is it considered?

Just checked my list of browns and greens. Coffee grounds are in my "green" list if that helps!
I'm following this thread with great interest and envy over Tabasco's great pile of chopped leaves! I have lots of leaves to rake up but don't know how I will get them "chopped" to add to the compost bins. I was planning to devote one bin to making leaf mold. Can I just add the leaves whole and wait a little longer for them to decompose? Based on this thread I presume that if I add alfalfa pellets to the leaves it will speed things up. I have a bag of bloodmeal (pure nitrogen) and another of kelp meal. Are they as effective as the alfalfa which I've never used?

I'll have to let some one else answer that gardadore. I would guess that since it is nitrogen it would work the same, but I don't know if the form of the nitrogen makes a difference. So I'll watch for an answer too ;~)

Garda, do you have a lawn mower with a bagger? If so just run over the leaves with your mower. The bagger will make the job easier and the shredding of the leaves will speed the whole process up - Win win! I've heard of some people putting the leaves in a garbage can and using a weed eater up and down a few times. That is not as effective but it's beats "doing nothing".

Psychw2, don't have a bagger on the lawnmower which is broken at the moment! But I have a mower weedwhacker (DR trimmer/mower) if I can get it to work - it's rather "fussy"! To keep the leaves from blowing in all directions I guess I would have to construct a three sided fence, put the leaves in it and then run the mower over them. Hoped there would be an easier way (like not doing it at all!) but I guess I must find a way to chop them up. I know it would be better. Just wondered if I could still get good, if slower, results "doing nothing"! "No pain, no gain" in this gardening business but it's all worth it! LOL

Like you said, you could do nothing to the leaves and accept it being slower... hey... patience is a virtue!

gardadore, you can use a big trash can put the leaves in it and use your weed wacker to chop them up, that's how I started out now I have one of those blower/mulchers and it is wonderful! I just did 14 big bags of leaves in two days.

t, glad to hear about your leaf beds, The leaves I've done in the last couple of days will go as mulch around my plants after the first hard freeze. I have several leaf beds that I started last year and a couple from a couple years ago and this is the way to go girl! You will love it! I think I have more plants reseed this way too I never had any luck with plants reseeding. They're so easy to add on to too :)

Gardadore, bloodmeal, kelpmeal,(I use fish meal... canneries..Alaska.. you know), all good to heat up the pile try to sprinkle evenly and water, keep damp. You'll get a heating going on, I bet.
Carol

Great thread, not to mention y'all are a hoot! :)

My DD works at *bucks and in the past has brought me ginormous bags of coffee grinds. My dilemna is limited space. Oh, to have a pile of leaves like that!

I hadn't raked at all yet this fall; so there was quite a layer of leaves, could hardly see any green grass. This week I used our mulching push mower to 'mow' them. I had to go over the turf twice but, trust me, it's a small lot.

Anyone know how much leaf litter is too much on turf? It seems like too much could create new problems. We're in that transitional zone that allows us to have green grass year-round so long as we overseed with a cool season grass in the fall. So I don't want to smother the grass, just feed it. Didn't know if there was a good rule-of-thumb to follow.

gardadore, your leaves will break down a bit slower if not chopped up, but both blood meal and kelp meal are great kick starters. Carol is on the money on that. Just construct a 4 sided fence and throw the leaves in there along with your "starter", kitchen scraps, coarsely shredded newspapers( and yes, sometimes I just wet em down and toss them in whole ),

plantmover, if you use a mower with a mulcher, no way there will ever be too much leaf litter on your turf. It breaks down and helps feed the turf. It's not a bad idea to periodically run a dethatcher thru your grass, not because of the leaf litter, but it helps aerate the soil, the worms like that. You want great grass, you need worms for that too......all them lovely "nuclear" herbicides are specific for certain weeds and have no problem killing your beneficials as well.

That's great news--thanks again, doccat, for all your helpful advice. What compost experts y'all are!

We aerated this fall, before amending with compost and Rich Earth and then reseeded. We're hoping to aerate every fall b/c this clay soil compacts with the blink of an eye; doesn't help that I'm traipsing around almost daily...but I'm not interested in having a lawn if I can't enjoy it!

I'm excited about all this info--thanks everyone!

Plantmover.... when will you be "happy" and let the plants enjoy ONE spot rather than MOVING them all the time?

LOL According to my DH's observations, moving plants is apparently what it means to be gardener. If the shoe fits...

We moved around with the USAF; and it seemed like I'd no sooner figure out what does/doesn't work in a climate, and we move. Usually extreme climate changes, AZ to AK to VA. So it was like starting from scratch each time...very conducive to trial and error. Wasn't till we retired here that I heard about co-op extension and had time to take a gardening course. I'm doing much better about finding the right plant for the right spot; but alas, my reputation had gone before me.

plantmover, my sister was marine, says she never actually ate anything she planted, but did eat things that others planted. Every little house was a new surprise. Best part is she can cook just about any ethnic treat you could want.