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Soil, Compost & Mulch

The Accidental Composter

14 years ago

I have an on-purpose, thoughtfully compiled compost pile but, as a consequence of living on a small, open area surrounded by 2 plus acres of woods, I also have some 'accidental' finished compost composed entirely of broken-down leaves on the edges of the woods. It's all nice and ready to use--question is, is this compost of any value to use anywhere in my garden? It's a really huge quantity and if I can put it to good use, I'd like to.

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Comments (10)

momstar
14 years ago
No. It is useless to you. In fact, you should bag it up and get it off your property as soon as possible. I would be willing to let you bring it to MY house just to help you get rid of the awful stuff.

Just kidding. That is a fantastic "accident" and you should definitely take advantage of it.
alisonn
Original Author
14 years ago
All the googling I've done has told me that composting with leaves only is a bad idea, since it has no nutritional value, yadda, yadda. So, I'm asking is it worth using it in the garden? It's probably a dumb question, but I've googled around and haven't come up with anything but "compost from leaves alone - yuck".
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Thank you all for your advice. What great folks! I will leave the top stuff alone to do its duty and will take all that rich looking stuff from the bottom. Actually, there's so much of it now that I'll be giving it away to my city friends who "rent" those community garden spaces to grow veggies. Now that I've wised up (thanks, everyone), I'll start adding other good stuff to the pile, like newspapers, cardboard, coffee grounds, etc. To think we've been taking those things to the recycling center all these years! Just giving it away, lol. One of my concerns was that there *might* be so much N in the compost that it would interfere with seed germination. But that's not the case and now I can go ahead and add the compost without any worries. I don't bag every time I mow; just this time of year when the grass and weeds are so thick that it would look like a hayfield if the cuttings are left on the lawn. Things just grow too fast and thick in the spring with all the rain. We don't use a lot of fertilizer, mostly because we are lazy AND forgetful. But we do use it on the heavy-feeders occasionally, while the plants that thrive on neglect almost never get any. Actually, I've found that keeping the roses in food prevents many of those fungal diseases, so they're the only ones that get any real attention in the form of fertilizer. This is better than resorting to sprays. But most plants simply don't need it; maybe once every year or two. Mostly I just put down some alfalfa meal in early spring and a little composted manure/humus. That keeps the plants happy. Oh yeah, potash. My soil is always testing very low on potash, so I add that once a year if it's needed. Thanks again, everyone!
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Laura, I think composting would only be complex in 2 situations: #1. You want compost fast. In which case you need to really watch your ratios and make sure the compost gets real hot. You'd need to turn more often and make absolutely sure theres the correct moisture balance. #2. You want it to be complicated. Some people get really excited about the little details so they go through all the #1 stuff and really get into it. In fact you put stuff in a pile and it rots, thats composting... I've pretty much broken every rule there is. All our food waste goes in the compost, from lettuce leaves to the Christmas turkey. It gets mixed with leaves and paper and whatever (sod from the garden, old tee-shirts, etc) and then rots. I turned the resting pile Saturday and found a turkey bone and some leaves that I should probably have shredded last fall but thats it. No paper, no other bones, nothing. I had put some grass clippings a couple weeks ago so the working pile wouldn't get overloaded. They're breaking down well but needed better mixing. I figure by the end of July this'll be useable compost. Still since I mixed in so many "non-compostables" (meat, milk, fat, etc) I may let it sit out this season and mix it into the soil in the fall. Then any potential bad stuff will get a good winter freeze. We'll see, if I'm dead next year the anti-meat composters can say "I told you so".
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borderbarb
14 years ago
I've never heard that about composting leaves. If you are in any doubt, [1] sift composted material, using larger stuff as mulch and finer as soil amendment. [2] Since it has broken down a lot, it's obvious that it is infused with microbes. Use some of this material to innoculate your other compost piles to get things going more quickly. [3] Make a worm pit/bin and feed the worms exclusive diet of those rotted leaves. Can guarantee that the resulting vermicompost will be a magic elixer for your soils and garden..... COME TO THINK OF IT....worms have probably already worked those accidental compost piles ... sounds amazing stroke of luck.
kentstar
14 years ago
What you have is leaf mold and is one of the best things to use in your garden. What kind of leaves, mostly oak? Maple? Try searching leaf mold on this forum. You'll get lots of people willing to also take it off your hands!
Lloyd
14 years ago
There are lots of nutrients in leaves. Some of them are in tiny amounts but that's why they call them micro-nutrients. I'd use them in a heartbeat.

Lloyd

Click on "Download PDF" on the link.

Here is a link that might be useful: Plant Nutrients in Municipal Leaves
User
14 years ago
One way to test compost to see if it's ready for use it to try to sprout small seeds like a carrot seeds in it.

BTW, leaf mold is supposed to be the best soil amendment for carrots.
mustard_seeds
14 years ago
the title of this thread sounds like a movie title... hmmm... I think there may be a planarian villain lurking.
mandolls
14 years ago
My compost pile is probably 80 % maple leaves. They make great mulch for all of my shade beds.
nygardener
14 years ago
Sounds like lovely stuff. I tend to like my compost to be a mix of many different things, so I'd probably take lots of it, add it to my compost pile, throw in plenty of greens and browns this summer, then use the whole lot as a soil amendment (work it into your beds down to a foot or so deep) in the fall.
alisonn
Original Author
14 years ago
Thanks for all your advice.

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