Old leaves- compost

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thy
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Joined: Sep 23, 2002 8:00 pm
USDA Zone: 7
Location: Denmark - 7B/8A Lat. 55,23

Old leaves- compost

Post by thy »

Help me please to understand

In the spring we remove the old leaves, stalks and what ever are left from last year and bring it to the dump or burn it, here at least we are told there is nothing in the old left owers

In the fall we take not that old, but old leaves and compost them for black gold and get an exelent mixture out of it
Exept for a bit of water... what's the difference :hmm: why don't we bac up the spring stuff and add some water :hmm:
Against stupidity the gods themselves struggle in vain.
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impatience
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Location: Oklahoma Zone 7

Re: Old leaves- compost

Post by impatience »

Thy, I actually clean up my leaves in the spring because 1) I am lazy, and 2) I think it is better for the plants\shrubs to have cover for the winter.

I chop them up, put them in trashcans with holes in the bottom and wait. If I did this job in the fall I would have beautiful fluffy leafmold now! But by August I will have nice fluffy leafmold to dump on my drought stricken yard. :???:

I don't think there is a difference.
Gardening is the slowest of the performing arts.
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kHT
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USDA Zone: 7-8 Z-nial
Location: PNW, some where over the rainbow?

Re: Old leaves- compost

Post by kHT »

What am I doing wrong here?? I vac them all up and toss them into the yard recycle bin due to the fact some of the
items I grow can't have mold around them. We used to dump them in the garden beds and cover them with plastic but after
seeing the diseased leaves that blow in these is no way I want it in my garden. I know with heat in the composter it will compost
but after using some compost and seeing some strange stuff it now make it all go away. My composter is in full sun all day and
turned weekly, so I'm not sure what is wrong. HELP!
karma 'Happy Toes' (kHT)
The Goddess is Alive and Magic is Afoot!!!!
I'm just a simple housewife.
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thy
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USDA Zone: 7
Location: Denmark - 7B/8A Lat. 55,23

Re: Old leaves- compost

Post by thy »

Imp... that's exactly what I thought :wink: I prefere leaving the leaves and stuff on the soil in winther time.. protecting the plants naturally and give the rainworms something to play with :D

karma. compost have to be done in the shade .. if it is too dry, nothing will happend, if it is too wet it will be moldy and have an ugly smell- you normally need both green(fine) and brown ( bigger/ more ruff ) things for the air to get around.
Can you get ecological (?) milck with out fat ?... whenthe compost is dried out a bit then give it some milck.. it is an fantastic atctivator for a slow compost
Against stupidity the gods themselves struggle in vain.
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gamekeeper
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Location: N.H.

Re: Old leaves- compost

Post by gamekeeper »

We do in my garden,plus alot more things most waste.
Bob Scott
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Joined: Feb 17, 2012 1:48 am
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Re: Old leaves- compost

Post by Bob Scott »

This is the first year I've started using coffee grounds in the compost pile. I get them from two different Starbucks.
I just cleaned out 2 bales of bedding straw from the dog houses and I'll see how well the coffee grounds work on that stuff. The straw is hard to break down.....and I was to lazy to run it through the chipper/shredder. :blush:
Composted leaves from last fall were spread on a new bed this week during all the crazy weather. All the leaves from the fall composted down to 4 full wheel barrows worth. High 60s today. Tomorrow it will be rain and get down to the 20s tomorrow night.
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