raked all the leaves in my back yard into my garden cage. I was going to run the lawnmower over them to mulch them to kick-start the decomposing process. HOWEVER, it has been raining the last three days on and off and although the sun is out during the day, the leaves are still wet. SOOOOO until it is dry enough to mulch them with my mower, is there anything I can sprinkle over them to start the process? I have a 300 square foot garden.
Thank you so much in advance DGers!
OK....so I
Hi Noobie - I empathize as I am another who lives with wet leaves.
Lovely when wet, aren't they? Almost have a glue-like quality to them...
I use grass clippings, but in the winter, I use Alfalfa pellets or Horse manure, if available.
Another way to go is to use a leaf blower - does a fairly good job of drying them off, you can blow them into the preferred containment area. But since it rains so much here, I just pile them up & let the process begin. I figure they'll be there to use in the early spring - unless it's raining, of course.
Good luck! =:0)
Hi Noobie!
Like Katye, in the winter I use alfalfa pellets--just dump some handfulls into my big plastic trash bags full of wet oak leaves, poke some air holes in the bags, and leave 'em alone until spring. I can see the bags decreasing in size over the winter so I know something is cooking.
I have also heard that using dry dogfood kibbles is a good way to jump-start leaves and clippings! Haven't tried this myself, but it's been mentioned more than once on the composting forum. Guess it might depend on which is cheaper, alfalfa pellets or dog food.
Alfalfa pellets, manure, use the cheapest high protein dog food you can find. Any of those will help give your leaves a jump start. Also wet newspaper, black and white only. I don't bother to shred it, just put layers in the pile and let the worms work. :)
Thanks so much guys! One question, though. Since the leaves are just resting in my garden (which is caged) will these same methods still work? Or do I have to bag them and then try these options. You guys are the greatest!
Noobie
Happy 2008, Noobie!
Yes - you can mix it right in, or toss it, or plunge a fork/shovel into the pile & insert ingredients.
No need to bag, but if there was a way to contain them it might be less frustrating to deal with. If they are in a big pile, and you have wind issues in your area, you might want to corral them with cheap wire fencing so they don't blow around.
I have also thrown odd lengths of chicken wire or 2X4 fencing on the top of the piles with good results. Well, that's when I get lazy, or winter arrives too quickly for me! Mine are located in areas of my property where they aren't readily visible. Chicken wire does not make a fashion statement, whatsoever!
Actually, doccat - the colored newsprint is fine - it's the shiny stuff you don't want to use, if the dioxin scares you.
If you already have beds, Noobie, you can throw them on top for a nice winter blanket. In the spring just turn them into the bed or strip off what hasn't broken down for your next compost pile.
Bagging them while they're wet would be good, but you'll wanna check them later and make sure there's some air in the bags or you'll have a slimy (& smelly) mess in the bags later - not that it won't be any good any more, it will, but it breaks down more efficiently and cleanly if there's oxygen in the mix.
HTH
Pcat, I'm more concerned about the lead in the red color. You cannot make the color red without it. Probably minute amounts, but I want to do my veggie flavoring myself, like butter, vinegrette, etc. LOL
DH just added more alfalfa pellets to the bins and some wet newspaper this morning and did some flipping. That should get em cooking again.
We have a forecast for snow flurries, if we get those I'll throw and old tarp over the bins. We laid out some of our bagged leave "bounty" over the areas I want to put in new beds this year. That will help kill out the grass
Thanks guys.
I don't have to worry about the leaves blowing a way. Because of squirrels, last summer my hubby built a cage around my garden. It's 7 feet high, 10 feet deep and 30 feet long. It's all enclosed in chicken wire and it's really nice.
this is what it looked like last year when it was first built. I am going to add some flower pots along the middle boards on the inside and grow my herbs in there and add some solar motion lights to it.
Very nice!
That is *great*!!!
Is he for rent???
That is a garden to dream about, I just may have to show hubby.
Doc - with all that mention of adding & stirring & cooking & flipping, I was sure getting hungry! Bagged Bounty of Leaves? sounds like Leaf Pirates.
It was warm enough today that I was able to go out & weed - fresh air is so good! The soil was chilly, but with all the rain, most of the weeds pulled easily. Yea! Wish I could do this every weekend - I could get a jump on all that will need to be done come Spring.
Nice garden, Noobie - no problem with the leaves for you! Just blow them right on in the door & to either end. So all you'll have to do come Spring is turn them into the soil, just like PC recommended.
The leaves that I blew into my flower beds about 5-6 weeks back are about halfway decomposed. Hurry up Spring!
I think that spring should start January 2!
Too right! pennefeather! Katye, DH and I "scored" over 50 bags of leaves from around the area. We are set!
You can see some of them under my magnolia.
noobiegardner,
Nice garden! You have alot of excellent suggestions on what to do with your leaves.
doccat,
Wow! 50 bags of leaves, I need to catch up! LOL!!! Why add paper when you got so many leaves?
Leaves are browns, newspaper is a green, honey.
confused here, I thought I've read that newspaper is a brown. ??
I too thought newspaper was brown. It lacks in nirogen dosen't it?
Right - it's a brown.
...or, you can just mulch the beds with them and let them break down on their own to form leaf mold. No nitrogen necessary. I do this to all my beds every year.
Karen
Well, guys my worms think it's the greatest, and I doubt it's the content of the paper I'm using. LOL I've found from experience if I want more worms in a particular spot, thats the way to go, plus liberal additions of coffee grounds. Guess they like to read with their coffee too. LOL
. . . just hoping they won't start asking for some cigarettes?
Are you kidding? My answer is get a job and buy your own! LOL
I may need to recheck, but I thought that nitrogen was used in decomposition of browns.Am I right or wrong? I was told that when I covered my garden area with paper shreads, and leaves, and my spring planting had a "yellow" tint, the first year, and my "smart Friend told me that it was because the nitrogen was used to break down the "browns".Would like to know for sure, if anyone has an answer.I can always buy cheap dog food.Thank you Mike
I know that nitrogen is used in the break down of browns. However, I don't know about the "yellow" tint after break down.
If you use carbon sources, i.e. "browns" on the soil surface, the nitrogen is obtained from the atmosphere. As long as it's used as a mulch, there is no problem. The problems arise when carbon alone (like wood chips) are tilled into the ground. In that case nitrogen must be obtained from the soil and nitrogen depletion results.
Karen
OK, and thats what I did, I let the "browns "build up in the veggy garden, and tilled them in.The yellowing was a result of the nitrogen depletion, as a result of the break down of the browns.So, if I had added 34-0-0 fert, it would have been more of a balance.Thank you both.Mike
Whew! That had to have greened things right up!
Wow! All these great tips. Katye...essentially that's what I did, except I don't have a leaf blower. I just raked them in there. I just need to make sure I balance it out now. so I will be getting alfalfa pellets soon!
Be careful, Nu B, that's how I started, and ended up with a green house by putting a ridgepole lengthway, adding rafters and throwing (some number of) mil plastic over and stapling it down and, 'voila!', Green house!
Carol
Carol--
I've already thought about doing that during the winter months! That way I can grow year round. I just might do that! :o)
Question to all: Will the alfalfa pellets give me the balance I need so that I don't have too much brown with all the leaves I have?
Really depends on how many you add, it's really all a balancing act. Little here, little there...
BTW, just in case it didn't come up, you wanna soak those pellets for a bit - they're dehydrated.
noobie-neighbor- : ^) hi
I have spinach and my amaryllis in my cold frame right now. so far so good, but boy it will be cold tonight, my hands are still cold from a trip tothe grocery store w/o gloves on. I have about eight water filled milk jugs on my cold frame to try to help moderate the cold. But just think, if you got two more months on each end of the season, you're darn close to yr round........
Pagancat- if you soak those pellets with not too much water, can they be sprinkleable? My first thought was a sloppy soggy mess. Could mom nature wet them for me?
Hey Sally! WE must get together sometime! Pagancat...I ask the same question Sally did. And thanks for the information. I was just gonna toss them on top of the leaves and wait! That's what I love about gardening....learn something new each season...and the learning never ends.
been to Greenhouse Grill, Glen Burnie, just below where Crain meets Ritchie.? just perfect for a Daves Garden lunch. I bet Gita would like it too.
Sally I have never been there and can't say I know where it is. I know Crain Highway. How close or far is it from Papa Johns nursery? I would love to meet Gita too! She and I have spoken several times.
You know up in GB where all the car dealers are? There's a Wendy's and McDonalds next to each other, west side of Ritchie Hiwghway. GG is next to the Wendy's. Just above Furnace Branch. Garden decor and all the usual sandwich, soup, burger etc, menu, like a Ruby Tues/TGI Friday. I have had soup and quiche there, couple of whole family dinners, I think thye have a soup/salad or quiche combo lunch so its not so huge. We should check with Gita, pick a day, then do a thread to open it up- what do you think? I am open for weekday lunches now.
BTW, I live quite close to Papa John's
Lemme put it this way - I put 10 cups of pellets in 2-4 cups of water every day, for about 10 minutes to feed to my horses. If you left it even longer, it would absorb all the water. They're really hard little rolls, about the size of your little finger's first joint, chopped and then extruded through some sort of press. If you gave them even more water and even more time, they would probably soak it up.
Ma Nature would also wet them down, but if there's any dry spots, that part won't help in the least. Remember, it has to be wet for any microbial action.
DO NOT under any circumstances put the entire 50# sack in a wheelbarrow & turn the hose on it. It grows up & over the top!
Good thing I had it next to where it was gonna go.
Follow PC's advice & you will figure out how to put just enough water so you can "sprinkle" it. I never measure - after the first experience with it, I give it a little at a time. And if you do turn it into mush it will still work just fine!