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We’ve written about it many times that composting your leaves each fall will do more for your garden than any store bought fertilizer ever will.
Mike McGrath, hosts a weekly radio program on WHYY in Philidelphia called “You Bet Your Garden.” In this Ted Talk, Mike explains why you should be compost your fall leaves and not put them out for the trash collection.
As I mentioned in a previous post, I use a leaf blower/vacuum to collect the leaves in my yard and then add the shredded leaves from the bag to my compost bins. This works out nicely as the vacuum does break down the leaves to smaller pieces that will compost faster than the whole leaf. But I watched my neighbor use her chipper/shredder on the leaves and I was a bit envious since the leaves were shredded to almost dirt particles. The chipper/shredded makes twice as much noise as my leaf vacuum but at least she was not wearing the vacuum bag on her shoulders like I was doing. Perhaps, there was something to it. But then my neighbor got a branch stuck in the feeder and she had to turn off the machine and unclog things. It did take some time to unclog the feeder and restart the machine.
I decided to try using my string trimmer rather than the vacuum. I must say – I was happy to take the collection bag off my shoulders.
Leaves in container ready to shred with string trimmer.
My leaf blower/vacuum has a metal impeller that does shred the leaves before entering the bag but I did find that the string trimmer shredded them to a finer degree. Both methods, leaf vacuum or string trimmer, require lifting, bending and hauling the leaves or shredded leaves. But it might be possible the the string trimmer does the better job.
Shredded leaves ready to put in compost bin
Oh, BTW, I did try shredding the leaves in an empty garbage can but I found that using a container that tall prevented some of the leaves on the bottom from getting touched at all by the string trimmer. The storage container was wider and shallower which permitted the trimmer to hit all of the leaves.
Yeah, I know it is the middle of January and I am still tending to autumn leaves. I have so many trees on and around my property that it seems like I rake leaves for months. In my defense I did take care of all the leaves in the front yard, side yard and immediately behind the house in the back yard before Thanksgiving. But there are many more leaves behind the main paths of the backyard that still need to be raked.
During the fall, I do see bags and bags of leaves piled up by my neighbors for the trash. But I haven’t given the trash men one leaf since moving into this house. In the front yard, I vacuum all the leaves up using a leaf blower/vacuum. I collect the leaves in the attached bag and then spread them as mulch around the trees and in garden beds. In areas that have gotten a little weedy, I spread newspaper and then layer the shredded leaves on top of the paper. It makes a great weed barrier.
Once I’ve gotten all the beds covered, trees surrounded and weedy areas covered in shredded leaves, I then start adding them to the compost pile. I have a few of these wire bins that work perfectly to collect my excess leaves –
I take the shredded leaves from the vacuum bag and dump them into the wire compost bins. I keep a hose or watering can nearby because as I add more leaves to the bin I water each layer. It is important that the shredded leaves are damp before add the next layer of leaves.
On mild days throughout the winter, I will go out to the leaf piles and turn them. The fourth side of the bin slides off and I can easily set it up next to the pile to accept the turned leaves. I make sure I have the watering can nearby during this task too. Because as I add the leaves to the reestablished bin, I add water to dampen the leaves. Turning the pile, fluffs up the leaves provided much needed oxygen to the decomposing process.
Granted, turning a few piles of leaves is a tedious and labor-intensive process but it is a great way to get some fresh air and exercise on a mild winter day.
I don’t have much grass on the property – grass does not grow well under all these trees. So, I rely on my neighbors who don’t compost to add their grass clippings each week. During the spring and summer, I collect the grass clippings from my neighbors or they deliver them. Then I turn the piles and incorporate the grass clippings as layers into the shredded leaves. By the end of the summer, I have fresh compost to add the the beds before then next season of leaves begin to fall.
