Basic Composting I: Composting Fallen Leaves

Composting is a must for every garden. When I started gardening, I thought sun exposure and water needs are the most important things I have to learn for my plants. But no, it was how to nurture the soil in our garden. A healthy soil produces healthy plants and composting is a great and natural way to add valuable nutrients back to our soil.

I’ve tried different methods to find something that’s very easy to do and can easily fit at least in my family’s daily lives. What’s important for me at this point is to make composting as easy as possible so we can incorporate it to our current routine. I’m also not interested in maximizing my compost quality at the moment, and if you are, you can find a lot of wonderful techniques from the internet. In our case, I’ve found it’s better for us to just wait for decomposition to take place with minimal work input, than it is to do additional things to accelerate the process. If this is what you want too, then this Basic Composting Series is for you.

Composting Fallen Leaves

LeafmoldHaving few trees in the garden meant dealing with their fallen leaves. Burning leaves is a waste of natural resources because we can use the leaves and their nutrients to benefit our garden. Burning them contributes to air pollution and no, it doesn’t really drive mosquitoes that far so let’s not do that. A leaf mold – what we’ll be making here – makes a great mulch for your garden.

What you’ll need

  • A place to stack your leaves. You can place your pile in a partially shaded and inconspicuous area in your garden. You can have 2 separate piles, but we used to have only one pile when we got started and it still worked out. It helps if you place them where they can get wet when it rains, but still a little shaded from the sun so that they won’t dry out easily. I think it’s better to place them on top of soil rather than have it on concrete.
  • Enclosure (optional). This is so you can keep the leaves in place. You can use wire fencing for this or anything you can use like extra hollow blocks to hold the leaves. We just pile ours against the garden wall.
  • Reusable Garbage Bags. We use the typical black extra-large garbage bags. We use them because they are light even when they are full of leaves. Moving heavy garbage bins and cans to your pile (which usually are nowhere near where you gathered the leaves) is very tiring.
  • Rake / Broomstick or Walis Tingting. Whichever works for you to gather the fallen leaves.

What to do to build a pile

  • Gather the leaves in garbage bags until they are full before dumping them in your pile.
  • Water the leaves so they are damp initially.
  • Add leaves anytime.
  • In summer, water your pile just enough so they won’t dry out.

You can harvest soil and earthworm castings before the next summer, just in time for the next batch of leaves to collect. Some trees though have leaves falling all the time. Just add them to your pile. To harvest, move as many visible leaves as you want to get to the bottom of the pile. You will find dark humus in the soil and some earthworm castings. You can sift them if you want to get fine mulch for your garden. Make sure to keep some humus in the pile to help activate the next batch.

If you want faster decomposition, you can:

  • Shred the leaves. Not really sure how we can because we don’t have a shredder or a mower.
  • Add greens to the pile such as freshly cut grass and chicken or your pet bird manure.
  • Turn the pile.

That’s it. Very easy. You just basically gather the leaves, dump them some place hidden, wait, then harvest. If you start now, in less than two years you’ll have regular supply of mulch by adding regularly to your pile.

Author: King Medina

is an entrepreneur from Lucena City. She's multipassionate and is currently interested in permaculture and bird watching. She enjoys frequent walks in nature, visual arts and life hacks.

Share This Post On

Pin It on Pinterest

Shares