Plant of the Week
Compost
Fall is in full swing at my house. The spiraling descent of oak leaves and
the bong of acorns on the roof marks the beginning of another gardening season.
After the leaves are taken care of, it will be time to sit back and dream and
scheme of projects to make my little corner of paradise even that much better.
But first, the leaves.
The hillside where I live produces lots of leaves and each neighbor has
developed a routine for dealing with the season's abundance. Some choose to deal
with them by not dealing with them. This natural approach allows the forces of
nature -- wind, water and time -- to do with them what they will.
I use this approach on the non-lawn portions of my landscape. The decaying
leaves form a nice beige carpet that protects little plants and gives a
pleasant, uniform look during winter. But, of course, leaves tend to blow
around, so therein lies a problem.
One fall, having way too much time on my hands, I undertook a research
project to solve the blowing leaf problem. I went to the lumber yard and came
home with giant aerosol cans of spray adhesive. Figuring that a light
application of adhesive would stick the leaves together, I set to work spraying.
All went well until my wife let the dog out. It was not a pretty sight.
Then there are the baggers. Baggers like to keep us posted on their bagging
tally. But, at least in my neighborhood, few bags ever seem to make it to the
city compost yard. Every fall you see old pickups or Lincoln Navigators prowling
the streets looking for bags to claim. As the bags are loaded, these leaf
pirates cast furtive glances over their shoulder to make sure the boys in blue
aren’t going to suddenly appear and haul them off to the slammer.
But, of course, the best way to deal with leaves is to compost them. I find
composting a rewarding experience, probably because it satisfies my tendencies
towards cheapness. The idea of getting something useful from nothing is very
appealing; plus it doesn’t take a lot of work.
Before launching a career in composting, you must first decide if you will be
an active or passive composter. Active composters have things like long- stemmed
thermometers and all the latest gadgets. Many apparently suffer from an
obsessive-compulsive disorder for they are always turning their pile, checking
its temperature or otherwise assisting in the process of decay.
The rest of us have compost piles. Nothing fancy, just a pile. My average
size city lot produces about 15 cubic yards of leaves every fall. The leaves are
raked onto a tarp and hauled Santa Claus-style up the hill to my dog pin-size
compost pile. With each dump of leaves, I throw on a couple handfuls of
fertilizer to speed the process of decay. I could reduce the volume and speed
the rate of decay by running the leaves through a shredder, but I have neither a
shredder nor the patience to force the leaves through the machine. Time is my
ally.
Just before leaf raking time, I fork the composted leaves from last season
into a new, and much smaller pile where they await use the following spring. The
volume will have shrunk to about a tenth of its original size.
I use the compost as a mulch in my woodland garden, applying a generous 3- to
4-inch topdressing to the beds.
By: Gerald Klingaman, retired
Extension Horticulturist
- Ornamentals
Extension News -
October 17, 2003
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