My beloved husband is apparently a very productive ninja who knows which neighbors to "steal" the cuttings from, so I have gotten my hands on several large bags of leaf and grass clippings, all of which have been dried out and then re-wet. When you open the bags, you get that lovely compost smell (yes, I like the smell - I'm a weirdo and know it).
I've used a bunch between the hay bales in my bale gardens, but still have a couple of bags left over. I hate not using stuff, so I came up with a surefire thing that will either work or not, and I'm hoping it will work. Of course, after having done so, I figured I would ask you what you think will happen, so hence this post.
I am thinking that I could use them in a similar way that I am using the hay bales, to grow pots of stuff. I seriously overstocked on some pots this year (I found a wonderful bargain and bought a large amount of 14" hanging, 14" standing and a few 16" standing pots for the price of three hanging anywhere else - I love e-Bay at times.), and so thought that I could experiment with the pots and leaf mixture.
So far, I now have 10 of the 14"hanging pots up, each filled mostly with the leaf and grass mixture. I put the mixture in the pot, and wet it down so that it would compact. I then watered it every day for two weeks to compact it, and to get the rot started. I also "seeded" it with a little bloodmeal.
Once the two weeks had passed, I put about an inch of potting mix on the top, sprinkled seeds on there, and then covered with more potting mix. A bit more water to moisten and "activate" the seeds, and they are all now up, hanging, and looking .... well actually, they are a bit empty, but that should change in a week or so.
I'm growing spinach of two varieties, sage, oregano, radishes, and nasturtiums in the pots. I also have a 'control' pot, with everything but the seeds, so that I can periodically dig in to see what is happening inside.
I think that the rotting process will not cook the roots, as I was able to put my hands in the mix before, and it came out cool, and a hair slimy. I'm hoping that the leaves and grass will offer enough drainage, but rot slowly enough not to compact too much over the next 90 days or so, as the various stuff grows. I also figure that I can add a little fertilizer to the water now and again to supplement the rotting vegetation that the seeds are on.
So, what do you guys think? I know that this is very unconventional, but it seemed like an itneresting idea at the time.
Leaves in Containers as a Growing Medium
Hastur that is what is fun about gardening Experimentation is learning while we expand our horizons..
Keep us posted
Tubby
I'm actualy planning pretty much the same thing. Have bunches of leaves that are partly rotted. Great idea and let us know:)
However, this procedure of gardening may be a bit to acidy for the plants you are growing. I'd be watching the ph Helene
My entire veggie garden last year was made up of leaves, grass and other garden stuff that sat out all winter. It worked great. It did dry out easy at first, so watch that.
Hastur, I made my own potting compost out of mulched leaves that had been spread over a bed through the winter. It was a couple of years ago, but everything I potted in that leafy compost was very happy. I used it for seedlings, and to pot Rex Begonias and some summer bulbs in, they all seemed to love it.
I would maybe add some Perlite to help with draininge, but that's just me. I love Perlite.
I didn't think about the acid content of the leaf medium, so thank you. A hint of lime should take care of that, right? Or is there a better way to even up the acid?
The drying is the one thing I'm a hair concerned about but I do water every day, so I am hoping that it will work out. I will definitely keep an eye on it, though.
I'm not sure about the perlite. The leaves and grasses seem to be offering a ton of drainage, but I will definitely keep it in mind for the future, if this experiment doesn't work.
Uncomposted deciduous leaves as a group are rather alkaline - not acidic. As they compost they lose some of the alkalinity, and pH falls to mildly basic as the composting process nears completion, not acidic, at around 7.0 - 7.3. I wish you well, but I see a number of probable problems related to N immobilization, soil collapse, and pH induced nutrient deficiencies (primarily P, Fe, Mn), but most of the other micronutrients aside from Fe and Mn, as well.
Al
JLP I am a Perlite freak too. LOVE the stuff.
Hastur, I ran out of potting mix for my planters last year and was in a hurry to finish up, so I dug up some of the bottom of the leaf/grass clippings pile I've got filling in a low spot. It turned out to be the most amazing planter! The hippeastrum I had in the middle had a bunch of new bulblets on it and grew greatly in size, and the other annuals I had planted from seed around it all grew lush leaves and flowers. I'm hoping yours does the same for you! I'm gonna try the adding the Perlite though - nice idea. I hit it with water pretty much every to every other day, but it would be nice to be able to not worry about it so much.
Thanks for the encouragement, E36. Like I said before, this is an experiment, based on the priciples that I discovered from bale gardending. It may work. It may not. Worst that can happen is that it doesn't and I have learned something - not too bad of a way to do stuff, I have to admit.
By the way. It's now a week and a half later and everything is sprouting magnificently. The nasturtiums have little leaves, the spinach is starting to have bits of green, the radishes are starting to be shaped like radish leaves, etc. Interestingly enough, the bowls haven't settled at all hardly, so even though I know that there is decomposition happening, it doesn't seem to be happening too quickly. Naturally, this is only in the beginnings of the experiment so it's too soon to tell if I'm just getting nice growth at the beginning that will die quickly later.
Will definitely have to add some perlite this weekend before things get too entrenched.
Sounds like a good start, Hastur - I'm sure it'll stay that way. As soon as it warms up a bit more here I'm looking fowarding to filling my planters with my "special mix" and see how it does this year. Sometimes I swear that it works best when you don't know enough to expect it not too ;-) If this works again for me this year, I've found a great way to get rid of my piles of leaves every year.
Interesting idea, I would take the hay bales and put them in a square planter formation, with soil in the middle and plant all inside the center. Is sort of hay bale gardening, it would work if you tie them together tightly and use annuals, so the next year you could use your decomposed hay for a lasagna garden or more. It would be cool too because you could have a drip hose or something running through it and plant pockets of trailing petunias or other plants right out the sides of the bale, if you put wire around it, it would hold it together so the plants could be vertical too. What do you think?
Talk about a related thread!
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/967476/
Interesting idea and sure worth a try! I did well last year with gourds planted on top of the previous fall's compost of mostly leaves. Same idea, bigger scale.
Thanks Pirate for the heads up to this thread.
OMG that's almost what I'm doing!
Interestingly enough, the entire crop of leafy stuff has germinated and is growing quite rapidly. There is a small resivior of water in the bottom of most of the containers (except the broken ones, but that's OK, they are another experiment, right?), but they all have drainage at the 3/4" mark.
So far, none of them smell bad, and all of them show no sign of settling. The nasturtiums are growing nice and strong, but that's to be expected. Apparently nasturtiums will grow in anything if you just water them. The spinach is growing quite nicely, and is about 1.5" tall, which makes me happy. The sage and basil has gotten to be about an inch tall, so that's cool, and the oregano has finally sprouted, but it's slow to sprout anyway, so no surprises there.
Interestingly enough, the radishes are growing like weeds. I'm using them as a type of control specifically because they grow so incredibly fast and are root vegetables. If they radish up, I'll know that something went right. If not, well, it's not like I lost anything major. *grin*
I have to admit that this is a very fun experiment. Leaf gardening is not something that I would have thought that I would have gotten into, but man, it's fun!
Hastur, sounds like your leaf mix is working well. I'm a little jealous that you're this far along - things just started to warm up enough to be safe to plant here. I hope it is, anyway. I'm looking forward to digging up my leaf piles again. I've got a bag of perlite ready and waiting. Keep us posted on your progress.
Course, it would partly depend on what kind of leaves you have. I can picture oak leaves turning into a solid , sealing mat, whereas silver maple leaves can be pretty fluffy.