To turn this significant pile of leaves into a garden in 2-3 years….
Approximately 10'x20'x3'
I was going to throw yard clippings at it this summer… Maybe a couple of bags of coffee grounds if I can find them… Got a guy that has a manure pile (he doesn't spray hebilcide) I might grab a load from.
by 2Drunk2BDebonair
11 Comments
Pee on it…. Forgot about peeing on it…
First thing, mulch it down with your lawn mower.
In 2-3 years that pile of leaves plus what you are planning to add should be pretty nice compost. In that time frame you probably wouldn’t even have to turn it.
Collect them all together into a tight pile, yes add your grass clippings and coffee grounds, start collecting your kitchen scraps and burying those into the pile too. Turn that pile regularly after 6 months to a year stop adding new stuff (urine is fine though) but do continue to turn it periodically. You’ll have compost within your 2-3 year timeline.
You are going to de-sod that area, right? The leaves alone wont kill the grass.
Blow that garbage to the side and till the soil….you’re in fertile country you’d just be raising worms (is it called heptalogogy?)
Nice. I’m using a bag on the mower and throwing the clipping in with a raked up pile of leaves on the ground in a mostly shady damp area mix/turn daily and hit it with the hose ever so often
mulch some of it with mower. Make a dense compact mound. That will get hot in the middle. Decay has high heat and low heat microbes. You want a compact spot that will encourage the high heat type for a month or so.
My best garden bed I started like this. I bought 3 1x8s that were 8ft long. Cut one in half and took all the shit from my yard and just threw it in. The leaves, sticks, grass clippings, shredded paper from work, etc. And threw it all in there over winter. Come spring I added bags of “garden dirt” to fill in and planted plants. They did awful but produced some fruit. Repeated my endeavors adding more leaves and grass clippings and top dressed with partial compost. This last year I had amazing results. That 24sqft bed produced 16lbs of bush beans from as many plants, 6 gallons of pickles, and 10lbs of potatoes that ended up rotting be wise I had never grown them before.
Since you have the space and are starting dorm scratch here’s what I’d recommend.
1: get a compost bin. Those big collapsible metal ones are really cheap. Fill it with the material in alternating brown and green layers like a lasagna. Stuff like brown leaves and other dried out plants are brown. Greens cuttings, food waste, and manure are green.
2: keep the pile damp. Turn it maybe once a month. Keep it damp.
3: when you are a few months away from planting, start collecting cardboard. When you’re two months away from planting, lay out the cardboard over the space where you want to garden. (Remove all the packing tape and stuff)
4: cover it with your mulch and plant about 8 weeks later. The cardboard will have killed off the weeds and broken down in that time and you’ll have an excellent garden plot.
you have a nice pile of carbon, it will make compost eventually, but you can speed it up by adding the right amount of nitrogen
I have a lot of leaf litter, I use it as mulch and as a base for my gardens(cover it with dirt). I also bag my grass clippings and mix leaves with it throughout the summer, the next year I have compost