fresh fallen or dry tree leaves. Does it matter?

I was wanting to incorporate leaves into my raised garden beds. This is the first time I have made raised beds. Is there a major difference between dried brown leaves and fresh fallen colorful leaves as far as nutrient loss? The same question is involved for making leaf mold. I realize leaf mold takes 2-3 years, But why burn em? And finally does the leaf mold process turn the leaves into a soil like composition or just moldy dark leaves? Thank you for taking the time to respond. Steve Bloomington, Illinois

I always shred up leaves before putting them on the garden beds, they will break down and help the soil faster that way, plus if you have whole leaves, they can mat together and prevent water from getting down in the soil as efficiently as possible but shredding will prevent that from happening. I have a leaf blower that can reverse to a vacuum and has a chopping blade, but if you don't have that you can just run over them with the lawnmower and then gather them up. In terms of nutrients--the fresh colorful leaves will be dried brown leaves in a matter of days or weeks, so I don't think it really matters which ones you use.

A friend dumps her leaves into a large garbage can and then uses her string trimmer inside of the can to whip them into shape.

Wow that was fast. Thank you very much.

What a wonderful idea, thank you for sharing.

smillr- you are going to work all that straw much into the soil, aren't you?

yes I will be laying an abundant amount of clean straw over them all before winter.

I like to store my fallen leaves for about 1 to 2 years if you have the room to store them, I have a huge garden so I sometimes take a large black plastic garbage bag with me away from the house and gather all the leaves up and fill the bag, tie the top when full, puncture holes in the bag with the garden fork for air to reach the leaves or you will end up with a slimy smelly mess, and just sit the bags out of sight till the bags look only half full, say 2 years, I have then got wonderful composted leaf-mould, lots of worms in this and then I dig it into the beds for the flowers/shrubs to enjoy, I mostly use this on shrubs as it loosens the soil around the roots a bit and lets air into the soil, if placed on top of the soil as a mulch, it offers protection around the root area from frost come winter and also acts as a way of stopping the soil from drying out so fast in the summer. you need to be careful which leaves you add to the soil as some can make the soil a bit acidic, I need acid added to my garden because I grow mostly acid loving trees and shrubs, but not all plants need acidic soil and can in fact kill them, just though I should warn you about the different leaves giving different conditions, good luck. WeeNel.

Hubby blows all the leaves to the center of the yard, dry or just fallen, and mows back and forth blowing them back on themselves. We use a snow shovel to put them in black trash bags after we've used some to top dress the gardens with a few inches. Poke a few holes, tie them shut and sit by the shed for next spring. You can add a shovel of dirt if you like, it breaks down more. This year they will go in the composter as needed. Chopped leaves take up much less storage space, but please note, the bags will be heavy so don't use cheap bags. We put them in the wheelbarrow as we fill so they can be rolled over to the shed and tipped out. If he remembers, he rolls the bags over a few times during the winter. I have one area against the basement stairs where I pile them up to about 10 inches and sit my starts and small pots of plants in the leaves (chopped). Gradually I cover them all for the winter.

The differance between green and brown leaves is really not enough to worry about. I think your thinking about the chemestry for composting where you mix a percentage of the greens with browns. Greens have more nitrogen and therefore cause compost to heat up better and kick the composting along. I never have tried to compost green leaves but my gut feeling is they would not really be all that good. I use grass clippings for compost heat in the compost barrel. I also use leaves in layers between turkey compost that I buy from a locale turkey producer buy the pickup load. I really think leaves are about one of the best soil amendments you can use. My problem is I have a lot more leaves than I can use. I have Oaks and Hickory in the yard plus a couple of Ash. A couple of those trees where are a hudred feet high.

I have a 3 hp leaf shredder that I use to shred my leaves. Since I collect them from all over the neighborhood in a pickup truck some are freshly fallen and some are dry. I take part of these shredded leaves and place them to a depth of about an inch directly on my beds. These will be rich dark brown soil by spring.

I cold compost the rest along with many other things from my garden by making a new pile every year. Every third year I use the oldest pile. I put almost every thing in these piles from my garden excep rose clippings and iris leaves.

As I build the pile I add grass clippings and most anything else except sticks or limbs though If I shredded them I could use them as well.

When I take my grandson for his riding lesson I pick up a rubbermaid container of sawdust/horse manure.

When I go to starbucks I pick up used coffee grounds.

I add all this compost into my flowerbeds as I plant . My beds just get richer and richer.

I have a Mantis Twin barrel composter. But since I have become aware of the poultry compost operation about 20 miles up the road I have used that primarily. I pay $30 for about 3/4 of a ton of composted poultry manure. The place I buy it from is part of a group that has several poultry barns. They sell this stuff commercially. It is really something to see they have a compost barrel believe it are not that is 10 ft in dia and 50 ft long. Turns out 55 tons of finished compost in a matter of days. Stuff is black and looks like bagged top soil. I put a lot of it directly on my lawn. Poultry compost is something to be careful with it will burn for a long long time even after being composted.

ozarkian is there any way you can post a picture of that compost tumbler I've got to see that guy. Sounds incredible.

This message was edited Oct 23, 2007 5:47 PM

Me too!!!

I sure can. They sell them also. have a few different sized models.

http://www.earlybirdcompost.com/Equipment.html

That is awesome. Thank you very much.

That barn that that thing is setting in smells awsome also.

That IS awesome! Imagine THAT sitting in he backyard.

That thing makes a pretty awsome amount of cash I think also. I have seen 18 wheeler oar carriers up there loading up. It is really a good thing. There are two ingrediants. The cleanup from poultry barn floors after the turkeys are sent to market and corn cobs that are ground to a size smaller than a pea. Farmers lay about a inch of that mix on top of their fields then plow it in to about 10 inches. I can think of no better way to use by products farming. I have spread it on my lawn for 2 yrs now in late fall. It is kind of stinky for a couple of day but it is very very good for the grass and there is no weed seed. I live on a very rocky lake front lot and it is the best soil builder I have ever used. I am sure there are other operations like htis one around the country.