Composting is an efficient way to do what nature does anyway, without our help. There are ways to make that process go quicker. They are not necessary. They just increase efficiency. I'm always concerned that newcomers will get scared away from composting when it gets treated like high science or even religion.
For anyone considering composting, I have 2 chicken wire circles in my yard. I throw stuff that will decompose in them and they do. I've never had a composter. I don't balance greens and browns, I don't add compost "energizers", I don't water my compost, I rarely turn it. It never smells and it turns to compost. This reduces what I send to the landfill, adds to the health of my garden, and saves me money.
Don't get me wrong, I have great respect for what the experts on this forum know and they have helped me to be a better gardner. I just think we should clarify the difference between composting and optimal composting.
This message was edited Oct 21, 2006 10:54 PM
Composting fall leaves without composter
Dave, I agree. I sprint at this time of year, vacuuming and shredding leaves. I turn the compost. When winter comes I totally ignore it. In spring, it's compost. I'd like more of it, of course, but I don't always have the time, energy, or mental drive to do it. I think that I have great potential for going over the edge when I retire, but until then I'm generally a lazy composter. Without any help on our part, everything will rot eventually
Karen
And on that cheery note....
As the saying goes, "Compost happens."
Can Chestnut leaves be composted, I understand they are in the same family as Black Walnut, Does the jugalone (sp?) break down w/composting?
I wouldn't but I don't know. I thought the chemical was in the roots? I don't know.
Thanks Steve, I've only got one of these trees in the front yard so will not try to collect leaves from the front and just add ones from the back to the pile (oak, popular, etc.).
I did a lot of reading about juglone and other allelopathic toxins a while back. A few things I learned were: it does drip off trees, composting will make the effects negligible or non-existant, and only certain plants are susceptible anyway. That said, I have the luxury of holding out for just oak leaves. I just don't trust that darn Norway maple in the back yard, nothing will grow under it.
Yes I would compost the leaves in their own pile for about 6 months and then try them in an area of annuals and see if any concerns arise. I can't imagine any chemical lasting through the breakdown of carbon into compost short of heavy metals. But who knows.
Okay, this is new to me. Some leaves are poisonous to plants? I have to arrange my leaves in piles by trees species??? Except for the maple and the peach, I'm not even entirely sure of the tree species in the back yard, much less what blows in from other yards. My plan was to rake them into a pile and leave them for several months.
That's all you have to do!
edited to say just read joepyeweed's post 10/17 at 5:41 and you're all set
This message was edited Oct 21, 2006 10:21 PM
Good!
I can just see myself: 1 maple, 1 peach, 1 unidentified, 1 peach, 2 oaks, 1 maple, 3 unidentified, 1 lilac, 1 unidentified, 1....
And then the wind blows.
I doubt if you have chestnut or black walnut leaves. They aren't that common in the US, certainly not in the west. Maple leaves and peach leaves should be fine and even Chinese elm leaves are fine -- which is what I think your other trees are.
I know people who put all the leaves in a black plastic garbage bag, add water, then leave it in the sun for the winter and perhaps longer. Composting isn't complicated. It just takes organic matter, warmth, and water. It will supply its own microbes.
If you want to add animal poop, you can. Depends on how you feel about poop of various animals. It all works. I am especially fond of horse manure, rabbit and llama droppings. But you use what you can get. It all works. You just add what you want. Even just leaves will eventually become compost. If you add animal poop or grass clippings or coffee grounds, decay will happen faster, but no need to do so. Check your cattle manure bag. Chances are it says "sterilized". At least that is on all the bags of cow manure I have seen.
Just put it all in a pile and make sure it stays wet, but not sodden and you will eventually have compost.
That is the tough thing about gardening, there are not a lot of hard and fast rules.
WH, here is a picture of my Stealth Compost:
leaves, layered with several tons of composted horse manure, capped with twiggy leafy stuff that will take longer to break down. I expect this to settle again by half over the next week, and we will continue adding layers of manure and leaves until it is time to plant next spring:
Greenjay,
I observe with envy the gift you have been given. As for wood chips decaying, I had some trees removed several years ago. They shredded up the part that couldn't be used for fire wood. It left me with a pile of wood chips and ground pine needles as tall as I am, more or less. (I asked them not to take them to the dump.) I am 5' 3". The pile is now down to 2' or less after approximately 4 years. Wood chips are slow to disintegrate, but this pile keeps shrinking each year. Eventually, I will move it into one of my planting areas. In the meanwhile it soaks up runoff from the rains we get every once in a while. I have been fascinated watching the shrinking of the pile over the years. Mine is piled on top of the soil. Yours appears to be dug into the soil. That works even better. My compost heaps shrink much faster.
I guess you are just living right. I have to shovel and haul in all of the organic matter that I get -- other than my own leaves and grass clippings.
It has been sorta interesting (and not a little bit gross!) to see the evolution from shredded junipers & misc shrubs down to this springy layer of rotting stuff over the last 4 weeks. The landscapers shredded it very finely, so it wasn't too hard to spread out. The compost (horse manure) is layered lasagna-style right on the grass. The area in that picture had a huge "dip" that had to be filled in firt to even out the grade. As soon as the painters are finished with the garage just behind it, I will finish out the grade up to the edge of the parking area. Although it looks a bit like terracing, I am building out a series of berms & swales on this slope to help retain water runoff from irrigation, rain, etc. Thanks to the generosity of the person donating all this compost, I will be able to buy enough landscape stone to make a 2' retaining wall along the edge you see in the picture.
I'm trying to sort though the info here...If I make a compost pile of leaves and yard greens (but no kitchen scraps or dog/cat poop), would it still be attractive to rodents?
I can live and let live with most any other critters, but I have a thing about rats.
Thanks.
jujucaps,
What you are describing shouldn't attract any more rodents than the rest of the yard.
Composting is simple pile it up and turn it over in 1 to 12 months. Then it is done. The rest is how fast it gets done.
This message was edited Oct 25, 2006 11:57 AM
We make a large cylinder out of chicken wire, stake it down, and fill it with leaves, stomping them down and wetting them as needed to make space for more. Sometimes we then put another length of chicken wire over the top, but it's not usually necessary. This makes lovely rich leaf mold in about 9 months. The rest of the leaves we throw into the garden, chopped or unchopped, and let the chickens rip it up.
As for black walnut leaves, I don't worry much, though I've got three of the trees. Their leaves seem like the last to fall, and they're not the sort of leaves that are easy to rake up, so they rarely get mixed into the pile.