Compost

Compost

As I have mentioned before, I am concerned that I will not have enough compost for next spring’s planting. Today (Nov. 20), I decided to take some drastic steps. I put the top down in my car and picked up a few bags of leaves on the side of the road. I don’t really like to do this because one never knows what people put on their yard. Leaves are not the best compost anyway. The tree sucks all of the nutrients out before letting the leaf fall. Also most trees practice chemical warfare. They have poisons in their leaves that keep other plants from growing in the trees’ “space”.

I have not “harvested” the leaves in my yard or on my roof yet. I normally use them for mulch. They keep the moisture in the ground and make life easier for earthworms and other creatures that aerate the soil. In the spring I till them in to give the soil more organic matter and keep it fluffy.

The leaves I picked up beside the road will not be nearly enough and they look like they were just raked or blown up without being mulched first. This will make them hard for the compost pile to digest. I always mulch the leaves from my yard before I get them up. I may have to save the roadside leaves and the roof leaves for mulching and use my yard leaves for compost.