"Just another point to remind ourselves that compost is about the worst organic amendment."

However, the vast majority of soil scientists and horticulturists do not agree with you and scientifically, compost does provide a huge amount of benefit to any gardening situation and it is very biologically active!! In fact, the addition of just about any organic matter applied as a mulch will be of benefit, whether it is just shredded leaves or leaf mold, manures or compost. I agree 100% with Bab's comments - it is all good, so use it any way you like.

I’m wondering what glib does with all the organic waste from home and garden which many of us compost. Please don’t tell me it goes to landfill.

gardengal..THANKS for weighing in..I value your opinion..using my organic matter is a lot of hard work but it IS the best thing in the world for my soil and plants isn't it?

floral..what a good point!..it still amazes me how that there is NO trace of banana peels, cantaloupe rinds etc in my compost..everything breaks down completely..my next door neighbors (husband and wife) have 5 trash cans because they throw out every bit of organic matter..we have one and he said once "I can't believe how little trash that you have"..

LOL!! When my housemate is out of town (3 weeks out of the month), I often don't generate enough trash to warrant hauling the garbage can out to the curb!! So I often skip a week.......sometimes two :-)

And yes, I agree that any organic matter applied as a mulch is a good thing for both the soil and for plant health. Which is why I routinely mulch all my planting beds with compost.......and never need to use any fertilizers as a result. My soil is very fertile and friable and teeming with soil biology.

We (2 of us) don’t own a trash can. A supermarket carrier bag is sufficient for a week’s non recyclables. And it’s usually only half full.

our trash can is never full either..I wanted to show you how many hosta seedlings came up with no help on my part..this happened because my soil is healthy right?..even though I used compost instead of leaf mold lol..

I just finished the leaves here. I have a zero radius mower. I blow the leaves toward the center and wind up with a deeper row in the center area. I then back through them. This really cuts them up. I continue backing and shortening the row from the ends until I have a beautiful 6 foot mound of very very nicely mulched leaves.

wayne..we finished today too..we had nice weather didn't we?..we mowed over some and used the shredder/vac for some..now I'm ready for winter..

I have to apologize to everyone. Apparently, I wished too hard. I feel I am off the hook whenever it's too windy to keep my leaves out of the street and off my neighbor's lawn. Mostly, I spent so long sucking up and mulching leaves this weekend, I wished it was windy enough nothing would be left to do (only one tree had 1/4 of its leaves left). Wow! Has it blown hard enough for everyone yet? Yikes, I shouldn't have wished so hard.

all kitchen waste does get composted mixed with leaves. After sifting, I use 400lbs a year, but it is soil mixed with compost, not pure compost. It is all for seed starting and seed mixing.

for soil amendment, I prefer hugelkultur because it is one and nearly done. and of course I mix my plantings, creating more opportunities for biology. Likewise, I tend to weed mostly early in season, so there are live roots in the soil in winter and the soil flora does better. In the past I trenched extensively and still do because I can not preserve cardoons during the winter without a trench (and the leaves on top end up at the bottom of the trench in spring). the point is that any whole matter is better than most decomposed matter(s), due to its higher energy (biology feeding) content.

glib2..I have no empty ground to dig trenches..also I think they would be ugly in my natural setting..digging trenches near mature trees disturbing the roots and soil wouldn't be good..and it's unnecessary as my soil is already healthy after years and years of leaf litter/natural leaf mold/whole matter..my soil amends itself..I don't have enough sun or open ground to grow vegetables or create beds..this is a woodland..I think keeping it natural is best..my woodland has plenty of "whole matter"..as hard as we work we're not capable of collecting, bagging, shredding, piling or burying everything that drops here..we selectively clear debris chip it and reuse it..

I've only somewhat gotten over my embarrassment at picking up other people's wasted leaves -- I usually collect under the cover of darkness LOL! <<< Last autumn was my first go at collecting leaves from the neighborhood, and it took me a couple of weeks to get up the nerve. Thought I'd gotten over it, but I surely felt odd making my first rounds in the neighborhood this morning. :) I prefer to pilfer during daylight hours so I can inspect the bags first -- man, did I ever pick up a bunch of junk last year! One bag had no fewer than 5 cat food tins in there.

All that said, mulching with shredded leaves is one of the best decisions I've made in my yards. I had terrific success with the Worx Leaf Shredder:

ETA -- rob333: My side yard adjoins a backyard that has two glorious silver maples growing, and I've watched longingly for days as the wind has blown almost all the leaves off. I'm waiting for signs of their lawn crew to get working so I can nab the leaves. :) It's a rental property, though, so I don't know how regular a schedule they keep.

javiwa..you and the others that "steal" leaves are doing your part to keep the earth healthier..thank you :-) ..we wear headphones when we chip..we look like idiots trying to communicate with hand signals lol..

It IS a very gratifying project, nicholsworth. I giggle at myself (inspecting the bags) as I've allowed myself to be very picky about what I grab: see-through bags only (I prefer the neighbors' maple leaves to the oh-so-prevalent live oak leaves -- much easier and quicker to shred.).

I may have been a bit too late protecting my ears: there's still a residual ringing I really need to get looked at. Will also need to purchase a higher dB rated set of plugs: the ones I have now are for snore level. :p

we have heavy duty ones that look like earmuffs..my husband's told me "you're too loud" if I say something when I have mine on and his happen to be off..

javiwa, my wish did indeed work. They're all on the ground now. If only those winds hadn't caused blizzard problems in the midWest and destroyed my "greenhouse", it'd have worked out better :/ The good news is my worx mulcher shredder can finish what's left, tonight even. Yay! Good luck on the those neighbor's maples.

I have two large trees (a maple and a honey locust) on the property line to the east but they don't drop enough leaves in my yard. I used to have a leaf shredder like the Worxx (finally burned it out) and hauled leaves from the curb. Now I don't want to wait for my neighbors to rake and haul to the curb, or to buy another shredder.

Our town uses leaf vacuum trucks to collect the leaves on the curb, they are then delivered to one of the mulch companies in town for composting. But, I can call and ask for anywhere from half a small truck to a full load from the big truck to be dropped in my driveway.

So on Sunday, I was hauling leaves that I had delivered into my back yard, while the neighbors on either side were hauling their leaves from their back yards to the curb. I mowed over the leaves in the front yard while they raked.

This year I am actually spreading the leaves over not just the planting beds, but over the entire back yard. I did so last year also; the drainage is poor and the yard gets standing water every late winter/spring -- I am hoping that as the leaves work into the soil, it will become more absorbent. I would have tilled in last year's leaves, but it was too rainy this past summer; my window of opportunity when the yard was dry enough closed before I could get it done.

I don't want to Shame any of you, but I just came back from a trip, and you guys in Virginia and North Carolina are slacking. In fact, I'm beginning to wonder if all y'all compost at all or if it's just an act so you can hang out with us cool kids. I was shocked by the amount of un-stolen leaves piled up curbside in those places, and, to some extent, Maryland and New Jersey. Had I not been frightened to bring home fungi and planaria---and if I hadn't already mountains of leaves of my own---I'd have loaded my truck up. Anyway, shame, shame, shame on you frauds..

When I think of Jersey, first thing that comes to mind is McMansion-land, probably from too many mob shows LOL - the last people who'd be composting and leaf-molding.

I'm a little behind this year due to the weather. We've had snow cover on the ground 3 times already and it's not even December yet so I've been limited on when I'm able to collect leaves.

I've been able to collect and shred enough to put a blanket on 16 out of 20 raised beds so far. I still need to fill at least 3 compost piles. I don't anticipate needing as much compost next year as I used this year because several of my raised beds are now filled to the top and there's no more room for amendments.

I may built a couple more small bed frames next year and steal some soil out of each of the full beds to fill them thus making room to add more compost next year.

Hey!! A compost pile is an excellent way to dispose of a dead body :-) I would think any mobster worth his salt would appreciate that benefit. Isn't that why they often pick landfills for body disposals in the movies and TV shows?

Still would have some bones to deal with, however...........

This is the last day for leaf pick up for me. I have six acres just outside of the village limits so I get most of their leaves. I left for Detroit yesterday, can’t wait to see how many piles I have when I get home.

Frank

Frank, THAT is amazing! Where in Ohio do you live? It looks like most of us mid-westerners are good about using our leaves! My neighbors kindly ring me up when theirs are all bagged here in the Ohio River Valley! What are you doing with those six acres?

I have been wondering if there's some other reason to shred the leaves besides quickening the decomposition cycle. After raking, I usually just put them on the pile. I have made separate sections so I now aerate them, but I've never shredded. I even put them on my rose bed whole. It's almost entirely oak with some mulberry, cornus mas and the dread Ailanthus ;(. I just seem to have so many with mature trees and a larger yard. Maybe with help I would, so just wondering about the advantage of it.

I just mow them in place on the lawn or rake them onto garden beds. I can confirm that every Mcmansion in NJ has a leaf pile at the curb right now, but many towns have a municipal dump where they drop the curbside leaves and yard waste. Then you can pick up whatever you want for free or have it delivered by the cubic yard for a small fee.

I envy you guys. We're not allowed to put any waste in the street and neighbors will come chastise me if even a leaf falls there while I'm raking (not that there aren't a zillion leaves already in the street!). They do, however, pick up the long lines of bundled vines, logs, sticks, etc. that I don't compost. These go to a city composting place that they use for the parks. No chance of us getting any even for a fee. We used to be able to get free trees, but they stopped that, too.

where in the Ohio river valley are you? I'm close to Cincy

Cincy! Near Xavier U. & UC. Hello neighbor! : )

I'm up North close to that other state where I'm at now. I've been working on filling up my six acres with plants for the last forty years. Also have a nursery business propagating Arborvitaes.

Frank

Hmmmm. May have to continue this conversation Frank! ; 0

Nicece... I grew up in Kennedy heights... now up in Fairfield township.

It sounds like you have plenty of leaves to go around... but up in my newer part of town where people aren't apt to plant trees... I am lean. So have to go to Sycamore Twnship compost giveaway... of shredded leaves. You can get last falls shredded leaves , complete leaf mold... or somewhere in the middle. You just pull up and they fill your bed with a backhoe. It's a decent amount of driving going back and forth in the day to fill up my bins... but I only have to do it once or twice a year.

vaporvac..I like shredding our leaves to reduce the volume..it looks much neater..they breakdown faster too as you said..but if I didn't have SO many leaves I might try not shredding..

Gardengal: LOL!!

Frank: Wow! Is that really you?

mxk3, do I know you?

What a small world! I used to own a house in KH across the street from the old castle water tower and had a condo in Fairfield when I first moved to the area. We are very old neighborhoods where I am now, so many trees, whereas you were farmland until recently. I'll have to look into the Sycamore Twp leaf giveaway if I ever feel I don't have enough! What I need soon are more wood chips.

Nicholsworth, I've never reduced my leaves because I felt I had too many! ; 0

vaporvac..we don't throw any leaves away..we shred the ones we collect to keep the pile under control..we would have a pile the size of a bus if they weren't chipped!..

I got that! It just seems like so much work but I may try it because I leaf piles are out of control. Probably not as many as you as I've seen your pile with those beautiful log surrounding it and I just assumed they were whole leaves. I think it's more the size of a house if you didn't chip them down! Lol! :-)

That is crazy Vaporvac!!!! I grew up on the bottom of Iris ave.... we would go up and play around that water tower! (which is long removed) My folks are still in the same house... small world!

FYI... the sycamore twnshp does give away wood chips too... they are essentially shredded any type of wood... so it's not fancy by any means... branches to honeysuckle bushes/etc.

"mxk3, do I know you?"

I meant is that you driving that big dump truck.

no lie it IS a lot of work..we filled the side where we collect before we chip 4 times!!..and as we raked we dumped lots of unshredded leaves here and there around the yard..we could've filled it 6-7? times!!..I dread the chipping but I sure love the results..

No,that is one of the city workers. I don't shred my leaves. I use them for mulch around my trees. They also bring me wood chips.

Frank

I've reached the point where I barely lift a rake in the fall, and just let it all settle where it does. Everything on the lawn gets mowed and the bags are spread around the flower beds, covering whatever was already there. I even clean up the leaves next door because I'm such a leaf-mulch whore.

I would steal the neighbor's bagged leaves but they are super considerate and mow them all up and then dump them in the nearby woods. One of the first things I do each spring is haul all their dumped leaves back to my yard and use them to add another couple inches of mulch to my front bed. the only bad thing about all the leaves is they smother the self-seeders like rudbeckia and rose campion, but usually a few still come up around the edges of the bed. If I'm feeling extra neat I edge the beds with bark mulch.

Just a comment for those thinking about stealing neighbor's leaves for mulching into your lawn. Unless you know where the leaves came from, be careful. I've had weed outbreaks that might have come from importing leaves. I've also opened bags that had sticks mixed in. The worst was some guy had apparently thrown some small concrete chunks into some of the leaf bags. I found out over the course of the following year as I picked them out of the lawn.

And, yes, I actually live just down the street from the Soprano's house but I have yet to find fingers and toes mixed in with the leaves.

Ditto to making sure you know what you are gettingwhen you are collecting from unknown people. As long as you stick to the very light bags, make sure they are whole leaves, and check to make sure that it’s not a bag of chopped up leaves collected with lawn clipping.... you can be pretty safe. Also i Make note of the yards that are weed infested during the fall... and make sure I don’t collect from them.

This year I’d did get some wood ashes from someone dumping there small raised fire pit ashes in a bag... not the worst.

Another thing you can do is dump the bags onto a tarp first to see what you got before spreading them out to chop up or dumping them somewhere.

I also like to only use leaves from my own yard to dump on the vegetable beds. The scrounged leaves go onto the ornamental beds just to be a little safer.

All of you are doing a great service to your selves and your yards. Could I put in a plug for leaving some of the leaves intact, rather than shredding them all? Fallen leaves harbor valuable insect/pollinators in their overwintering forms. If you shred them, you destroy those butterflies and moths, etc. I owned an acre of oak trees, and one year didn’t get around to shredding, as we normally did. So, we had a huge pile of leaves over half of the front yard. The next summer, we had a dramatic increase in the number and diversity of birds visiting the yard, and I am convinced it was the increase in insects available for them to eat. The Xerces Society is urging everyone to “leave the leaves” to save our endangered pollinators. I don’t expect everyone to stop clearing their yards. But, if you have an area that could hold some piles of intact leaves, please consider it. Thanks for listening.

Martha

Martha..I agree..we rake or blow the driveway, roof, the small areas that we mow etc and leave the leaves everywhere else..it's a win win..good for the earth and saves us a lot of work..

Great post, Martha! I do tend to leave what falls on the beds intact, and some leaf litter blowing around here and there doesn't bother me - I am definitely not one of those people who wig out if a stray leaf or two lands on their pristine lawn, although I probably should have DH clean out the gutters...

My neighbors can't believe that I gather leaves in the fall while my own yard goes unraked.

When I still had a yard (in an apartment, now) my sister and I would rent a U-Haul truck every year and troll the streets for bagged leaves. She still does it, and dumps hundreds of them into her chicken run. Once the chickens have picked through them for a season, and added their own fertilizer in the process, she makes that her vegetable garden.

Martha