One of my customers shared this video of Mike McGrath with me and I found it to be interesting and informative and thought I’d share it with you. Lots of good information about composting. Some of it contradicts what we’ve been told.
Without a doubt compost is one of natures miracles. It has so many benefits for plants and gardeners. In the nursery I use as many leaves as I can. We use them to heel in plants in the fall, we use them to mulch beds and we use them to mix other materials that we are composting. Like Donkey Manure!
Let’s have a chat about composting.
What is your favorite method of composting? What do you like the most about composting? What benefits do you get because of your composting efforts? Here are 23 DIY Compost Bin Ideas.
Post your questions and comments below.
Dear Mike,
Here are some of my observations using mulch for three years in raised beds in central PA:
1. My little backyard has construction fill/debris, wet areas and very poor quality soil,. Thus, raised beds and organic amendments have helped a lot. Beds are made of pine 2×4 and 2×10’s
2. I have used 5+ inches shredded leaves as top dressing on my raised beds in the fall. The stuff breaks down beautifully over winter to produce black loamy material. It virtually disappears after 1 year. Too thick (and not shredded) and it becomes a sodden mass that takes longer to break down.
3. Mulch with thick layers of straw is faster to apply, with equally good results. Lots of earthworms in the spring and early summer. More worms with straw mulch.
4. Straw/hay mulch, a la Ruth Stout produce great results into year 2. The first year I had a huge slug problem. That is not is not a problem in year 2, despite heavy rainfall
5. Straw mulch in raised beds keeps the soil very moist and friable. The 15 x 4 foot raised bed has 20 nice Sugar Ann watermelons with no work. We’ve had adequate rain.
6. Overall, I prefer straw flakes lain down. I will try this over shredded leaves and/or compost and see which I like better.
Sincerely,
Jack Majcher, Altoona, PA
Jack,
Thank you for the great information.
I live in Virginia. The red clay here welcomes anything that will improve it. The issue is not that the clay won’t grow things it is that when the clay dries nothing can penetrate it. I have been adding every substance known to man to loosen up the clay. Leaves, cow, rabbit, horse, pig, chicken manure and everything I can get my shovel into. This video was an enlightening 17 minutes for me. I will start to clean out the gutters and run the contents over with my lawn mower this winter and make my neighbors think I have gone crazy if that is what it takes to improve this clay. Thank you all for your opinions as I am sure they all work.
Thanks for this great video, I have some neighbors who have piles of leaves already shredded I headed to pick up now!!!
I have composted for many years and have read articles stating the optimal carbon to nitrogen ratio is 30:1. But how do you know if you are getting close to that ratio? I finally discovered that the best way to achieve the ratio is to weigh or estimate the weight of your ingredients. It doesn’t have to be exact, but try to get close.
Happy composting!
Great comments! I stop by the local Starbucks almost daily during the winter and pick up 30-40 pounds of coffee grounds. I mix that with equal parts aged horse manure. I mix in a bunch of shredded leaves and a bucket of sawdust. Once I wet this down and mix it with a pitch fork it heats right up. I cover it with a tarp and even when it is well below freezing outside, the pile stays around 100 degrees. By Spring, this will be ready for the garden.
I wish I could paste the sign my daughter made me for Christmas. It says, “Grubbs Greenhouse, trespassers will be composted”.
I also built a continuous flow worm bin out of an old non-working chest freezer. I cut out the bottom and installed a grate made of conduit pipe. Since it is too cold for them in the winter, Under the freezer I put a waterbed heater under a plastic tub full of sand. I put the thermostat in the sand and adjusted the temperature til it stayed about 75 degrees. I inserted worm bedding and start feeding the red wigglers our kitchen scraps. There are several posts online providing lots of detail for this approach. I can’t wait to put their castings on the garden this summer.
No one has mentioned the leaf blower/vacuum. I bought one many years ago, just like the one he showed, specifically for the vacuum. What he failed to mention is that it clogs up every 2 minutes and you have to stop and clear it out. The bag hangs on one shoulder and becomes heavy which puts a strain on your back, even though you have to take it off every 2 minutes to clear out the clog. It barely chops the leaves and it’s incredibly loud. It was more trouble than it was worth so it stays in the garage. We rake oak, ash, and hickory leaves out of the garden beds to the lawn where we chop them fine (much finer than the vacuum does) with the lawnmower and then put them back in the beds. Plenty gets left in the lawn too. It is labor intensive and takes a few days to do our whole property, but the resulting mulch is worth it. And it’s not as hard on the ears, or on the back as the uneven torque of the blower bag. Extra leaves and those that fall later or blow in from the neighbors after we have cleaned up get chopped and go in the compost bins. We add kitchen scraps, weeds, grass, shredded paper, whatever, collected throughout the year.
I was very interested in this video. BUT I WANT TO CAUTION EVERYONE ABOUT USING THE SHREDDER IN THE VIDEO.I used the same shredder and almost died from it. Here is the issue..There is a lot of mold and bacteria on the lawn where these leaves collect, The shredder grinds them up and it creates a dust as it goes into the collection bag. That dust is toxic and almost.killed me. I was in intensive care with a ventilator down my throat for 2 weeks until the Doctors found an antibiotic that could reverse the infection in my lungs and the spent three months in rehab learning how to walk again. What I am trying to get across is that if you use this type of shredder that is ok BUT MAKE SURE THAT YOU USE A PROPER MASK…
Mike – I see alot of comments from 2014, but here is one from 2017! The video was very informative as are all of your teachings! I’m a “one person household” so not many kitchen scraps. But none the less they all (except meat) go out into my compost pile and recyclables into their proper pile! Keep up the great work and encouragement to all those in favor of eating clean.
Have seen this video on the net before, but never watched it all the way through.
So thanks … I guess … for prompting me to do that!
What a load of nonsense.
Is shredding leaves essential? Of course it isn’t! I have made a LOT of compost and have never ever shredded a leaf – long stringy things yes, roughly chop them with a sharp spade – it makes turning your compost (if you turn it) much easier. Collecting leaves? Again we go high tech in these parts … we use a rake.
Kitchen waste works great in any half decent compost pile!
Will adding nitrogen rich material help? … you bet! We call that manure where I come from 😉 (and if you get your pile hot enough cat and dog are perfectly fine, but your local chicken/dairy farm or stables is a great place to start and you don’t need a lot.
Again you don’t need fancy ‘composters – a pile is fine, wire cage too but a few free pallets makes a great compost bin and if you do turn it – at least 2 bays helps a lot.
With compost size matters – at least a cubic meter is a great place to start (and it will then get hot in the middle of any winter)
Turning is not essential just makes getting to the end result faster and the pile more consistently composted (The Berkeley method you can make compost in less than 3 weeks – yes in winter!) or you can assemble a pile – layering is a great way to do this!! and let it happen slowly and worms? … worms will find your pile (think Field of Dreams – if you build it they will come)
Phew!
Rant over 😉
Malcom, thank you for your rant and I am in your camp. Many years ago I wrote about my “Lazy Way of Composting. https://mikesbackyardnursery.com/2011/09/how-to-compost-the-lazy-way/
I saw this video or a similar one by him three years ago and have been composting my leaves since then. Before the leaves start to fall the following year, I am adding the compost to the garden and my vegetables do great!
I used to use 7 old pallets stood up on end and held there with steel T posts. I attached 2x2s on the front with 1×6 in front of those to make slots then stack 1×6 as a adjustsbable front panel. As I filled the bin I added 1x6s. Once the bin was full I would move the material from one bin to the other. The third bin was where I sifted the finished compost using a sifter made with 2×4, 1×6 and 1/4 inch hardware cloth. I had scrounged up a slab of sidewalk concrete to put in the sift bin so that I wouldn’t be digging up the dirt and making a hole.
I used to throw vegetable food leftovers, coffee ground, and eggshells into the mix. Seemed to work well
I moved to a smaller city lot now, and have maple trees. I use my mulching lawn mower with out the bag to mow the leaves up once, then put the bag on to remow the leaves and collect them. I have one of those big compostumbler that I fill up. Once that 7 full the mix goes into the recycle bin/mown leaf collecter until spring when things heat up enough to start mowing lawn. I usually empty both containers onto my backyard , re-mow the stuff and put back into the tumbler. As the stuff cooks down I throw the lawn clippings in. When I have a pretty full tumbler I let it work until I think it is done or close. I dump it out on my driveway and mow it up again into the bag, which makes it really fine. As I fill up the bag I empty it into the garden cart and dole it out to the roses, ckematis, etc.
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thanks for the composting link/worms
Compost needs five ingredients. Nitrogen (greens), Carbon Brown ( leaves), water, air and time. If you turn your pile daily ( air it out) you can have compost in a month. Three times a week it will take three months. Keep pile moist. I am now to old to turn my pile manually. I use a bulb planting auger on my electric drill. Works great but not as well as a pitch fork. The important thing is “do it”.
Mike, I’ve watched your site now for a long time several yr. and have been a big fan. Unfortunately I can’t afford to join your group as my SS doesn’t allow. However, my grandmother was an American Native and her composting was a bit unusual. This is what she, my parents and I have done forever: Of course all scraps, egg shells, greens, and veggie scraps, decomposed chicken manure and some cow manure decomposed. We also mulch corn stalks from local farms, 5 or 6 per batch, coffee grounds ( a variance from the old recipe of course) I put tea leaves that are used as well, herbs that have become too gangly in my herb box, and lots of Biochar that I make from lawn and tree clippings as well as weeds and brush. Chipped wood from branch’s from my trees.
And once a month, I added one gallon of water from soaking curly willow branch’s in it for a month. all of this goes into a rolling punctured barrel on two end stands with a latched door for access and a handle to turn the barrel of mulch, I also add something more modern, (pearlite), my gardens were magnificent. I used to have a half acre green house of wood and plastic coated once a yr. with two coats of white wash. I sold tomatoes to local stores in those days just from my hobby garden.
My tomato’s were attached to hanging string that was attached to wooden beams of the roof of the green house. I would tie a loose knot around the base of the tomato plant once it was strong enough to do so, once a wk. I would wrap the new growth around the string and once every 2 wks. I would remove every third leaf and ck for bugs or eggs of tomato worms and remove by hand.
As the vines grew and produced blossoms at the top of the green house were vents a couple of ft. above my air and heating unit. The bees found their way into the green house from a near by field and through the open door. I also played music from a portable boom box of my sons that had been discarded for a disk player. I found a symphony channel and on the wk. ends my plants received polka music and they grew in abundance. lol
When I started using my grannies method my yield was larger, not only in size but in the count of product as well. I was literally getting twice the amount and larger like tomato’s. My heritage tomato’s were almost perfect with no misshapen culls, just a throwback at the end of harvest. And the flavors were intense. My second career was in the culinary field, I also am a retired Executive chef and I totally appreciate, at 70 yrs of age, the fresh and intense flavors in my cooking. My palate waters when I think of those wonderful gardens I once had. I’ve lived in apartments for 4 yrs. now and am contemplating moving to Montana and renting a small cabin so I can live in beauty and also have my beloved garden once again. Good gardening to all. Sandra Vander Pol MD and Chef retired.
When the guy says that Americans can barely speak English, he is a prime example.. When he is quoting someone he uses the phrase “And she goes”….. What ??? The correct phrase is “And she says”…… She is speaking, not moving…. He does this repeatedly…. Please tell me he is not a trained public speaker
When the guy says Americans cant speak English, he is a prime example.. When he is quoting some one… he says ” And she goes”……. GOES? …. No,…… the correct phrase is “And she says”…. Goes indicates movement, not speech…
Mike, Though I am just getting around to listening to the video I loved it.
Hope you can have him again sometime but not to replace yours
donna
I made a compost bin from waste cedar logs cut from cedars that smothered the back chain link fence of my town lot. Used six foot rebar sections at the corners, drilled holes in eight foot long lengths of cedar and dropped them over the rebar at each corner – with one exception. I left out enough lengths in front of the bin so to be able to remove humus from the bottom of the bin. I cut “spacers” from waste cuts made when cutting the cedars to their nine foot lengths initially and used them to create supports for the missing logs on the front of the bin.
The corners of the bin rest on concrete blocks for a foundation.
The bin is now maxed out at approx. seven feet high.
In the fall, my neighbors are glad to give me their leaves rather than burn, ad nauseum. With my leaf collection added as well, I have a constant supply of shredded leaf mulch to “sweeten” my raised bed garden plots for an entire growing season. The next fall, the bin is emptied and ready to be recharged with that fall’s leaf drop.
Works like a charm. I do throw kitchen waste down into the pile through an airpocket in the center of the pile formed around a tripod of waste cedar tops wired together at the top. This allows air and moisture to migrate to the bottom of the pile along with the kitchen waste which promotes aerobic decay of the pile from the center of the pile.
Works for me.
Cliff Keeler
Thanks for sharing that video, Mike!!! Very informative, and very much inspiring!
I will be stealing leaves next fall like a compost bandit!
Great blog!
Mike, loved the composting video. I learned I’ve been overworking the whole composting process that’s for sure. I also vermipost (worm castings) and it’s truly made a world of difference in my garden beds. Thank you for sharing this enlightening video!
Leaf wrangling has been a family tradition with me and my husband. Every fall we drive around the neighborhoods rescuing leaves. It has helped us add top soil to our clay yard and add soil on top of a very rocky hill. Love it!
I like sheet coposting because it is less work ! imake rows of the organic material and just leave it
on the ground to rot or compost.you get more weed seeds,this way but a lot less work!
I do 12 to 16 eight yard truck loads of grass from the local cemitary this way. after it is composted i
spread it out about 2″ deep then rototill it in the soil.
I use my tractor to do the spreding and rotovating.
then i plant something to growthere.
Hey Mike I’ve got a Composting question? What about using dirt from inside a hardwood tree that’s been cut for few years. My mother always said dirt from a base of maple tree was best soil ever for gardens. This past season I went around digging out soil from dead stumps and throwing them directly into my garden. I’m wondering if I should have put it in a composting …first
This is so interesting. Thanks for the information. Certainly can be very beneficial when I put it to use. I am also wondering if pine needles are beneficial or not. They seem to have the same blanket effect as falling leaves.
I make three kinds of compost. In a wire bin, I put chicken, rabbit and Guinea pig manure mixed with the animals’ spent hay bedding. Into trash cans drilled with many 1-inch drainage/aeration holes I layer kitchen waste with shredded leaves. My third type of compost is simply a huge pile of leaves that I rake up once a year after all the leaves have fallen. I also brew rabbit manure tea and occasionally pour some in my compost bin and cans to help the process along. I made a compost sifter out of a big empty cable spool wrapped with hardware cloth. The door is an old heavy rubber welcome mat. The big pieces that remain inside get added back to the manure bin, the compost cans and the leaf pile.
I understand the benefit of composting from middle school science, but have been trying to develop a comprehensive application to enriching soil naturally since. I have been following what I believe you have been teaching and from other research on the information highway. I subscribed to Organic Gardening for years and many other Rodell books for about 30 years now. I find your method about as simplistic and practical as can be found. I now have a well wooded, but seriously soggy yard, and have a bagger for the mower to collect the green and thankfully as well brown shed from the trees. I DUMP All my organic “waste” below a hill in my side yard, including kitchen plant matter. I fashioned the parameter from fallen rotting trees. As I mow and also vacuum leaves from the yard, I deposit them in this space. From previous attempts to compost, I realize I was too close to trees and was smothering the ground near them and distressing them by smothering them at surface level causing them to develop the fine filter roots that occur when trees are subjected to piled mulch at their base. We are never too old to learn! I watched the video on this e-mail and was aptly amused as well as informed, and educated, or at least intrigued to further research worm production/proliferation, because we can all find ways to populate the helpful critters that serve our interests. WORMS RULE! And make great bait! As always, thank you for sharing your wisdom, humor and humanity. Blessings!
What a great video!! I am a beginner and haven’t started composting as yet, but, definitely will start. I did put leaves onto my garden area in the fall but will go about it different next fall. I have a question-pecan leaves? We have 5 pecan trees very near our garden-well all around our yard, my step dad loved pecan trees. Are there any plants that do not do well near pecan trees? I have on at the very edge and two others (one huge) about 50 ft from the garden area. Thanks.
Sounds great with leaves, but what about grass clippings mixed in?
I am a landscaper and have been composting for years. I have always just thrown everything (except sticks and unwanted weeds) in a pile. I do nothing to it. If we don’t get rain for awhile I will add water. That’s it. The stuff underneath is beautiful! I do have to say that I have been recently using 2 to 3 inches of shredded leaves in my flower beds in lieu of mulch. it is WONDERFUL!!! It breaks down nicely and really keeps the weeds down. If you can’t shred enough leaves yourself you can go to the local nursery/garden good center and buy it (leaf compost) by the yard. It’s a little more expensive than mulch but WELL worth it! It is also very light weight and not cumbersome to lug around. Hope you find this helpful. 🙂
The US still records the lagrest per capita generation of municipal solid waste among OECD countries. Municipal solid waste is expected to decline slightly on a per capita basis by 2000 mostly as a result of source reduction efforts. The pursuit of the RCRA goal of promoting waste reduction, reuse and recycling is succeeding in gradually reducing quantities of municipal waste being incinerated and landfilled: the proportion of waste recovered tripled between 1970 and 1993 and now stands at about 22 percent. Despite the fact that 38 States have enacted more than 140 recycling laws, with some having also established tax incentive programmes for recycling, overall US recycling rates are lower than those seen in other OECD countries. For example, nationwide about 34 percent of paper and 22 percent of glass were recycled in 1993 as compared to other OECD countries who have reached 40 percent and more in their paper and glass recycling efforts. The RCRA goal of cradle-to-grave management of waste is broadly being met. In spite of some slow efforts in some localities, most municipal waste is now disposed of in lined landfills, incinerated, or composted. Unsound disposal operations have been shut down. The share of incineration is not expected to grow and is likely to remain at about 16 percent, while landfilling is projected to decrease by about 10 percent between 1993 and 2000.
Mike, God is blessing you abondantiy, a lot of people are very hapy because of you. I hope you live a very long life and be in good health, Mike we need you.
God bless you and all your undertakings. you are a great blessing us.
Thanks Mike, do have a lot more birthday.
One last comment.What you want this year .you should of done it last year..Also Mike said keep composting,trust me you dont have enough..LOL how true.I had 12 yards plus and I ran out .
Sage advice to our composters. I especially like the information regarding using worms (in my case red wigglers) for converting the kitchen waste. I am a vegetable juicer and I use the by-products, not only for things like carrot cake, but I make great home-made manure with the grindings. A recipe I am using now is 5 pounds of carrot grindings, one cup of coffee grounds, one cup of fine grind eggshells and two cups of water to hydrate the mix since my grounds and eggshells are dried. I buffer things with shredded cardboard and keep the layers (an inch or less) so things don’t go thermal and my worms get cooked. Which is exactly what I did when I started out. Overfeeding is one of the most frequent mistakes people make in the beginning. I have gotten most of my worm education form redwormcomposting.com and recently joined vermicomposters.com to network and learn with other vermicomposters too. This is a field I believe will expand exponentially as more people learn about the value of worm bio-converters.
I had an allotment plot (1000 sq ft) for almost 10 years and I never composted – the worms did. I loaded up every blade of grass I could during the summer and worked them into the beds and paths, and then every fall I would rake up the leaves from our strata and end up with over 150 bags of the stuff spread out all over the plot. Come April there was hardly a leaf left to turn over into the soil. Along with that, over the entire year I would dig in kitchen scraps where ever I could. That plot went from heavy clay to beautiful soil over those ten years as well as being about 4 inches higher than when I started.
IMHO anyone who says composting has to be X amount of green and Y amount of brown with frequent turning over and watering is full of beans. Load it all in, let the worms do the work. Feed the soil and watch the plants thrive.
I have a question-do the worms come or do you have to bring in some worms? I too have been putting grass clippings in the garden (just this year) and just till in. Thanks.
I AM A SEMI RETIRED COMMERICAL COMPOSTER(SOLD CO. IN 05) I TOOK IN APPRX 30,000 TONS OF LEAVES FROM MY COUNTY EACH YEAR APPRX 300 YDS OF HORSE MANURE FROM LOCAL RACE TRACK PER WEEK ANOTHER 10 TONS PER WK. OF LETTUCE LEAVES AND OTHER VEGGIES FROM A CO, WHO MADE SALAD MIXES LKE YOU BUY AT LOCAL GROCER. ALSO 30 YDS OF TEA GROUNDS TWICE A MONTH. THIS WAS MIXED TOGETHER AGED FOR AT LEAST 6 MONTHS THEN SCREENED AND SOLD.THIS MY BACKGROUND.
WITH THAT SAID I MUST DIFFER WITH HIM ABOUT FOOD WASTE.IF IT IS GREEN PUT IT IN THE COMPOST PILE YOU NEED AT LEAST 1 PART GREEN WASTE TO 2 PARTS LEAVES . YOU EED GREEN WASTE TO HEAT UP THE LEAVES YOUR PILE SHOULD BE 145 DEGREES TO BREAK DOWN THE LEAVES.TEA AND COFFEE GROUNDS ARE GREAT FOR THE COMOST HOWEVER YOU CAN TAKE THEM AND APPLIED DIRECTLY TO THE SOIL AROUND YOUR ROSE BUSH AND WATCH THEM BLOSSOM.I HAVE MADE THE MIX FOR THE ROSE GARDEN AT WHITE HOUSE. ALSO FURNISH MANY LOADS OF MY MIX TO SMITHSONIAN .AND THE US BOTANICAL GARDENS AND CONSERIVATORY.
Thank you for sharing the benefit of all that awesome experience with us.
Buddy obviously knows much more about composting than Mike McGrath.
Anyone who has ever composted … knows much more about composting than Mike McGrath! 😉
Mike, This is Wayne Staudenmaier, an excited gardener from Texas. I’ll soon retire and stop traveling from job to job and get my tree farm started in Pittsburg, TX and/or Wathena, KS. I grew up in Kansas on a farm and this is the closest that I’ve been to my heart’s desire on planet Earth. I can hardly wait.
Now about Fernando: Fernando asked me to make this connection for him. If this is the wrong way to get him started, then just email him and guide him along. He is excited about propagating trees and gardening. I told him about your “program” at Christmas and he went silly on me with excitement. He is about 30 with Chrystal and expecting third child soon. They want to live close to us when we settle.
If you want me to do this different, let me know.
Sincere Thanks,
Wayne Staudenmaier
Mother Nature will advise that slow composting works, visit the nearest forest to find plenty of humus. It didn’t happen overnight!
Speeding up composting requires a process of heat, which is really bacterial action. Those that claim to know these things say a 30:1 ratio of carbon to nitrogen is an ideal goal for fast composting. Dry leaves, mentioned in the video, has a C:N ratio of 60:1. Fresh grass, just mowed, has a ratio of 20:1. Good, clean horse – or possibly donkey – manure registers 25:1. This is clean manure, not muck-out residue with wood shavings or sawdust.
In a simple 3 X 3 or 4 X 4 bin, layer in 4-6 inches of fresh grass clippings. Add a simillar layer of manure, making the ratio 45:2. Add a layer of dry leaves, chopped of course, for a total of 105:3, or 35:1. Lets add another layer of grass for a 125:4 ratio. That’s a ratio of 31:1 which is the money number. Keep the pile moist, but not wet. Turn it as often as you can, at least every three days.
You will have very useable compost in about a month to six weeks. NOT finished, but very good.
If you want to get very serious about composting … look up BOKASHI!
Enjoy,
Daryle
Hi, Daryle. You have got a lot of specific information that I would do well to study. It’s what I would call scientific composting. I, however, had little time to devote to getting proportions right, or even worrying about them at all, so over the last year, I have been rot-composting my kitchen vegetable peelings. I just dig a hole, about 1 1/2 ft deep and drop in the peelings, then cover them and forget about them. The next day, another hole of peelings adjacent to the first. People told me I would have wild animals digging them up, but this hasn’t happened. The occasional stray dog might be more interested than the wild critters. When I have time, I till the compost area and I rarely see anything uncomposted. While I believe that your method results in a more regular soil amendment, if a person doesn’t have much time, any plant-based food scraps will help enrich the soil, and will break down quickly as long as you keep the piles small and let the soil mix in.
P.S. This will be my first year with more time to devote to growing plants on a larger scale, so I do appreciate your advice!
You got it right Donna.For small amounts of waste such as spoiled food or peelings Etc, mixing with good old dirt will turn it all into very black and rich soil in a short time usually a couple of weeks depending on the spoiled types and size.I also use large nursery buckets for this method.People would do better to mix some plain old dirt with their other materials.
Mike, What about composting spent grain? I am tending to think it is too allelopathic, which means it inhibits germination, which is ok if you are growing plants, but it seems to me the garden seeds dont germinate very well in soils where spent brewers grains are spread
Jim,
If the compost is completely finished I don’t think it matters. But using it too soon could be problematic. I’d mix it with other organic materials, it should compost better and faster.
I agree with your method which I have used off and on for over 40 years!
The key to any compost pile is Microrganisms! I get between 800-1000 CY of (shredded) leaves delivered here each spring, free of charge. If those leaves are left untouched, it takes almost 3 seasons before they’re ready for the farm. Here’s a very simple, very cheap way to convert those leaves in 1/3 the time
http://gilcarandang.com/recipes/lactobacillus-serum/
The leaves scheduled to be delivered in just a few weeks, will be inoculated with the Lacto bacillus serum, and left untouched-they will be fully composted by next fall!
Link does not work
Try this link – http://theunconventionalfarmer.com/recipes/lactobacillus-serum/
That link no longer works. The domain name has expired.
Thanks Mike for all the good info. It was with your help around 5 years ago that I started composting. I have many trees and I usually let the leaves fall on the plant beds and cover them for the winter like a good blanket. My husband mulches the ones in the yard and I gather a lot of the ones that don’t fall on the plants and pile them in the back. Come spring I pull the matted leaves off the plant beds and pile them in my compost pile. Like you Mike, I don’t turn my piles. I just go under the pile and get the good stuff. Thank you for all you do in helping us gardeners get info to help us be better at what we do. You showing the video let me know that you are still willing to learn also and I like that. Keep up the good work.
If you folks want the real skinny on composting, check out this recipe for a very cheap microbial innoculant to kick start the whole process. I get 800-1000 CY of (already) shredded leaves delivered here each spring. If left untouched, they take 2+ seasons to fully break down. Using the Lacto-bacillus, they’re ready to use, the following spring. Microorganisms are the key to ANY compost pile!
http://gilcarandang.com/recipes/lactobacillus-serum/
So you think you all can farm plants??? Ok so think about farming some Microbes..I spoke on this last year also..Lacto-Burcillis is made from milk.any kind of milk.It is the main ingredient in many many differant products used to control smells,breaking down of compost.mixing with animal feed to help with digesting food better.List goes on and on.I used it all last year with great results.We even had a problem with our sewer drain field plugging up and the smell was just awfull till we got the money to put in another one.The smell just floated up and thru the bathroom window.Was enough to make you puke.It worked on that great.The stuff can be expensive and the actuall amount of lacto bacillus can be small.But you can make it your self and t will be in concentrate form.You have to mix it with water then spray or sprinkle your compost.Trust me folks it is so easy to make ,A gallon of milk wich is only the medium for it to grow in will make at least a quart of pure lacto serum concentrated.Shelf life with out any new nutrients added is about a year.Google it and you will find the recipie easy.
That gilcarandang link doesn’t work. Does anyone have this recipe that they can post here? Curious about it…
That is an interesting show. I have been burying my kitchen waste (veggie peelings and such along with fruits and namely bananas and coffee grounds for years. My veggie garden isn`t big but things grow really good, I have a lot of wormsand things are gone mostly by the time I am planting the garden. this is the first year I desided to make a bin for the compost. so myself ad my daugter that lives next door , have been putting leaves and spent flowers and veggie waste along with a lot of leaves and some dirt and water. It is working but slowly and this has got to be because the leaves aren`t shredded. Oh we have the yard still full of leaves so I am going to get one of those tubes so it can suck up the leaves and chop them up. I will add my coffee grounds to it and go to a few coffee shops and ask them to save me the coffee grinds. I asked once and they said they have to dump them every night. Well weather permitting , I will be thee to get them!! And by the way I put coffee grinds and egg shells and banana peels in my blender with water and I have the most beautiful roses. they love it. Give it to them at least once a month year round .
I do have one question. A lot of coffee is treated with pesticides. Won`t that get into the food that we use it on?? This is something that I worry about ,as it causes cancer and I have had it already and do not want it again!
If you are drinking the coffee I sure wouldn’t worry about it in your compost. So many toxins in the water and air everyday, our livers need to be healthy to take care of them.
Just feel good about the waste you are diverting from the landfill and that you are growing your own super local nutrient rich food!
I let my worms do the work then use their castings as fertilizer.Use old coolers,throw some news paper and Night crawlers and dirt in it.Throw
your peels and what not into the cooler to feed your worms.Keep dirt damp and cool.make wonder water to dampen dirt.Wonder water is blended water and vegetable scraps liquefied in a blender.Pour it into the cooler when dirt becomes dry.Viola even better compost
I let my worms do the work then use their castings as fertilizer.Use old coolers,throw some n,keep news paper and Night crawlers and dirt in it.Throw
your peels and what not into the cooler to feed your worms.Keep dirt damp and cool.make wonder water to dampen dirt.Wonder water is blended water and vegetable scraps liquefied in a blender.Pour it into the cooler when dirt becomes dry.Viola even better compost
How do you know when to empty the cooler, or do you remove part of what is in there–and how do you know when to do that?
You have to check the compost to see if it ready.
I too use fall leaves for great compost in one to two years. I’ve had many a black leaf bags on my patio from fall til mid spring. Amazing how many earth worms have found their way into the bags and even under the bags!
I also pile them up between the old yews and oaks trees which is at least six ft tall but by the first spring, the pile is half and by the 2nd spring, I can start it all over again! Although I must admit I get my leaf mold from the pile through out the seasons! My new plants love the soil composition when planted.
I also mulch my leaves then use it as mulch-it depends how much time I have to devote =-mulch or just make a big pile!
How did people get into the habit of burning or bagging leaves instead of using them as mulch or compost material? It seems such a waste to just throw all those good nutrients away. If we educate the public about the usefulness of the leaves, we could use it as a selling point to increase sales of deciduous trees.
It’s the same silliness that causes people to remove all the trees from a lot before they build a house, just because they are afraid that leaves will clog the gutters! I’ve had people tell me that I should never have built my house anywhere near the trees because the trees might fall on the house—and these are mature, healthy trees. The people giving me this advice have their Florida homes right out in the full sun, so they have to run the air conditioning 24-7, while I rarely use the air conditioning, plus, their homes take a beating when we have a bad storm, while my beautiful trees shelter my home from the high winds.
When we work with nature, nature works with us. We need to stop being such control freaks; just chill out, let things grow, and enjoy all of the benefits that plants give to us.
The question as to why the pub lic removes all leaves, trees, etc from there lots and new building sites is a concerning question. The landscaping industry and public perception has governed the way a person reacts. I agree why would a person not use their own leaves instead of using ground up skids and tree tree trimmings. The public has been conditioned to buy that black gold so to speak which has no food value to the plants. I have found that a pile of leaves in a box with a little mulch and a few worms from the local bait store will create some of the best mulch or soil that there is. If you have an outside boxj just, add worms to the mix. Very inexpensive. Just add some watermelon rinds and and they will hang around. Winter comes they just go down; however, if you have taken care of them they will be back. All of my beds are full of little red worms. If you pick up a hand full of soil in the summer time there will be 100s of worms. Keep them watered and happy and this partnership will last for years.
I tried to mix my kitchen waste with leaves shred and unshred. I found it very effective because . decomposition became very fast and 90% odor free. Please give me feedback.Thanks
I read some time ago that a good trick to shredding leaves is placing in garbage can use a weed eater inside the can and it will shred perfect.
Tip of the day
Neat idea! Kinda makes me think of what it would be like inside the maelstrom, with the leaf bits swirling around at high speed—like the image of the Two Bad Ants in the Chris Van Allsburg children’s book, when they get caught in the garbage disposal (don’t worry, they don’t get shredded, because they’re so small).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KD40MGyodk0
Thanks for all your interesting information. I always check up your procedures and ideas, even though we live in different areas, as you know in Latin America we don´t have the same seasons, but some of the basics are quite useful.
Keep on the good work
Sincerely,
Francisco Solórzano
Is it neccessary to put the compost pile in the sun. I have mostly shade in the yard.
Rosanne,
Not really, the organic matter is going to break down no matter where it’s at. Sun might heat it up a little, but I don’t think it’s going to make that much difference.
Kind of depends where you live. In Texas, it is not usually a good idea to site pile in a sunny spot as it dries out too fast and a compost pile needs moisture.
well i learned a little from this talk but it was dulled by the fact that the speaker called every man on earth, but himself, stupid. he should eliminate that from his talk
I agree. I think it’s wise encouragement for folks to know how easy composting can be, but his disdain for alternative methods that have, in fact, a long and documented history of success, is off-putting.
Love, love, loved it! I have been composting as long as I have been gardening – we won’t go there! I was tickled to hear about alternative methods of shredding the leaves. We both have gotten too old to start the big gas powered shredder. I have an electric one and a mulching mower. I’ll make use of them b shredding those leaves! I layer the oak leaves with kitchen scraps and do toss in wood ashes from the patio fire pit occasionally. We have the biggest earth worms you’ve ever seen in there! I have a composter that husband built that has 3 4x4x4 sections. the idea was to move from one bin to the next to turn the compost. I never do that, just fill one let it sit while filling the one next to it – you get the idea. We have lots of good compost! BTW – thanks for introducing us to Mike McGrath, I found and bought his kit: The Kitchen Garden Box; Save & Sow Seeds of Your Favorite Vegetables,
I have a lot of pine trees in my yard can I include pine needles in my leaf compost, or should I avoid them if possible?? I think they are white pines.
Pine needles are fine. I’ve put pine needles in my compost piles for years. It just takes a bit longer for them to break down, maybe up to a year depending on how diligent you are with keeping the pile hot and active.
Since I have been here the last 4 years, I have had a 3 large bins. The first is for kitchen waste (I also have a worm composter indoor during the winter) which is mainly worked on by a multitide of worms. I place the waste on one side for about 3 months then pile it on the other side for 3 months and generally can remove the castings in 3 months and start filling that side again.
The 2nd bin is for all yard waste and the 3rd for leaves I collect from the neighbours since the yard has only mainly small leaved shrubs and some fruit trees. I will have to start shredding the leaves.
Up to now, after the first year I screen out the finished composte in the yard waste bin then mix in the leaves from the leaf bin with what hasn’t broken down in the yard waste bin and that is composted by the next spring or summer. This year I empied all 3 bins of lots of finished compost and started from scratch again.
My grandmother dug holes in her back yard for kitchen waste (I remember mostly egg shells and coffee grounds), would fill them with leaves and dirt and dig a new hole when it was full. I believe there was some horse manure in there because I remember her sending us kids out with a wagon and a shovel to find it in the roads (Long Island NY had a lot or horse people back then) and bring it to her yard; yes it stank but we were rewarded with her delicious German homemade treats) We were careful not to step in the soft holes in the back yard, but boy did she have great rosebushes year after year. My mother told me that her Grandfather had beautiful rose bushes in Queens. I am sure my Grandmother learned this from her Father. I don’t recall much kitchen waste, everything was used.
I think they had better ideas back then. I try to remember them now. I know that by recycling everything I can, I only put trash out twice a month now.
So in summary – he is advocating collecting large amounts of leaves and composting them separately from all other waste (except for coffee grounds). In my reading elsewhere I’ve seen similar suggestions with the underlying basis that cold temperature FUNGAL breakdown of woody material/leaves creates humus products that are much more stable in the soil and last longer than compost made bacterially in a hot heap.
Personally we woodchip mulch through our garden – essentially a sheet of woodchip compost 6 inches thick, which is breaking down fungally over a long period. The humic products are stable and benefit the soil for year. If I need more nitrogen for specific plants I think top dress with compost from our ordinary compost bin.
The end results, after just 18 months of using this approach, have been great.
Good information , but if green matter is not available just pour some urine on pile this provides needed NPK and speeds up process also smell disappears after about 2 days !
You need not post anonymously—this is GOOD information! I have an outdoor toilet that is used when we are working too far from the house. It’s just a camp toilet seat over a five gallon bucket surrounded by a privacy screen. Makes the world’s best fertilizer. When the bucket is full, we dig a hole, pour in the slurry, cover it with dirt, and it is turned into non-smelly, beautiful soil in about a week.
This might not work for everyone; if you use prescription drugs or eat lots of processed foods, you would not want to use this type of fertilizer for food crops.
I have an open ended compost bin made from welded fencing in the outside chicken coop, and that is the first stop for most of my waste, from weeds to leaves, coffee grounds and rotten apples. The only thing I DON’T put in the chicken coop compost bin is leftover chicken (because that is wrong on so many levels!) The chickens scratch it up all day, eat what they want, and add their manure to the mix. In the fall, I run my mantis tiller over the pile, then move it all into our garden beds, sprinkle it with some Azomite or other rockdust, and top the beds with shredded leaves. Come spring, I’m ready to plant in the richest loam you can imagine. Also in the spring, I rake the bedding out of the chicken’s inside coop, and a combination of that and green spring grass and weeds is what starts our new compost bins for the year. The chickens do most of the work turning it throughout the year, and all I do it add coffee grounds, kitchen scraps and weeds. Nothing goes to waste… and by the way, I live in the city on 3/4 of an acre… so if I can do it, anyone can! 🙂
That’s sort of what I do too. I have chickens and a lot of leaves, I bag up what won’t fit into the chicken run until they have done their magic. Then through out the winter and spring I add another bag or two. This helps in so many levels. 1 they really tear up the leaves into small bits, 2 they eat grass bugs or whatever they want in the leaves and keeps them busy, 3 they poop in it which helps decompose and adds nitrogen and best of all the chicken run stays cleaner and not so muddy and the eggs are cleaner. I LOVE IT!
I must be one of the laziest composters who did things right by accident! lol.
I use my lawn mower on my leaves in the fall, aiming the flow at my gardens. I start at the farthest point away from the garden beds and work my way back to them. By the time I get there, the leaves are chewed up into itty-bitty pieces, the gardens are covered for the winter and there’s no bagging to do.
I have one English oak tree that is almost 100 years old and a second one that is about 50 years old. I get enough leaves from those two alone to leave a winter cover of about 3-5 inches of mulched leaves & grass cuttings. By spring, I’m lucky to have any left!
I started doing this about three years ago, when raking just felt stupid (and I got lazy! 😉 lol). Since then, I haven’t bought mulch, weed killer, bug deterrent or fertilizers yet my gardens grow like weeds. I couldn’t be happier that laziness paid off, this time!
Thanks Mike for the entertaining video. Who knew composing could be so much fun, but I have questions. I live in arid climate, 11% humidity. Do I add water? Then does compost like sun or shade?
Scott,
Even in Ohio I add water to my compost when I can. I’m sure shade would be fine, but I’d have to think the heat from the sun will speed the process.
after most of the leaves have fallen and are still dry I go over them with my lawn mower,after first blowing them into a central pile/s with the mower. A couple times around the piles leaves the leaves powdered to small pieces on my lawn and that’s the way I( leave) them. Haven’t bagged leaves in years.Flower garden a different story as I rake some leaves and pile them in with my plants which are taller than the leaf pile and let them winter over to keep out weeds
I live in dDenver Colorado. Lots of rocks and clay and dead soil from then the basement for the house was dug along with chunks of concrete. I used to (too old now) compost by digging deep furrows piling the dirt high and wide and planting down the middle. I’d then line the ditches with newspaper 4-5 sheets deep and move enough soil back to keep the paper from blowing away. Yes , I did use kitchen waste and coffee and tea refuse. However I also took my poor little car and a tarp and begged hardwood sawdust from a furniture building firm. And would go various places and shift pine needle crusts into that tarp and bit by bit into those furrows. And added a bit of excess soil from those rows I’d piled up. No fertilizer. Just weekend foraging. In only a couple years i had the best soil in the neighborhood. And my neighbors, mr and mrs clean and nosy, were asking what I’d done esp as my garden out produced theirs in only half the space. Unspoken revenge is so pleasant.
1 – leaves are brown, grass clippings are green. The green has extra nitrogen and makes the brown breakdown faster.
2 – I also add high nitrogen grass fertilizer – the kind without any herbicide, for example, no HALTS crab grass killer.
3 – If there is no rain (I live in California and our rain is highly seasonal), sprinkle the mulch pile with A LITTLE water from time to time.
4 – And if you have time, turn the pile lightly with a pitchfork.
5 – Leave out any plant that is infected – almost all tomatoes are infected by the end of the season – leave all old tomato plants out of the compost. Supposedly the mulching process kills pathogens, but that is not my experience.
6 – Also supposedly composting kills week seeds, but that is not my experience, either.
this was one of if not the best composting info I have ever seen. I have been throwing kitchen waste in for years. no more however I do also throw in all coffee grounds
thank you for sharing with me.
what about leaves from a Walnut Tree? is it bad to use them because of the Jugalon (spelling?) they have in them?
Daniel,
I don’t honestly know. I’d have to think that in a compost pile the jugulone would dissipate, but I don’t know for sure.
Jugulone comes frpm the root zone of black walnut trees not the leaves, i have been told. The microbes in the pile will probably love jugulone! Makes for good microtivity!
I read that juglone occurs in leaves, roots, husks, fruit, and bark of the black walnut, but here is an article from Iowa State University that has a lot more detailed information:
http://www.extension.iastate.edu/news/2005/jul/070701.htm
A small amount, ie, wood chips, of jugulone is okay, but be aware that especially black walnut is alleopathic to most other plants. Check it out.
Using composting worms or Vermiculture produces the best compost. Everyone should have some boxes of these in place of a garbage disposer. I have had them for years. If you take care of them they will reproduce year after year. Why collect leaves in bags. I just use a mulching mower and shred them where they fall.
i don’t think he said kitchen waste is bad he said it isn’t necessary. since putting egg shells in my garden i haven’t had any end rot in tomatoes. just a coincidence?
Hi Patty
blossom end rot is caused by a lack calcium. I had this problem last year and “cured” it with the addition of calcium to the soil in one of those hanging tomato growers. The end rot stopped about 2 weeks after I applied it and the new tomatoes developed and matured normally well into the fall season.
Short answer: your egg shells were a perfect solution.
I compost year round. The bulk of my input is leaves, grass, kitchen waste, and weeds. Every fall I allow the grass to grow just a little longer so that the fallen and blowing leaves get caught. I then use my lawn tractor with attached lawn-Vac to cut the grass and suck up and shred the fallen leaves together. This appears to be a near perfect C/N mix and they compost very good. A portion of this gets mixed into my compost (I have a three-bin system) to kick start a hot pile. The rest gets laid down on my garden, raspberry bed, strawberry bed, and around my blueberry bushes. I put it down 9-12 inches deep and it does three things. First, it holds in the moisture and protects the garden from winter rains. Second, it insulates the soil and allows soil organisms to continue working in the soil for many more weeks before it is too cold. Third, it breaks down and feeds the soil. I till it all under about four weeks before I want to plant so that the soil can warm up and the remaining mulch can fully break down in the soil. It is always loaded with worms at this point.
Rototilling your garden decimates the worm population. I personally enjoy spading a garden by hand and have turned down many offers to have it rototilled for me.
I can’t beliee I have thrwn away the best for my compost all these years, but today that will end..
Thanks
Bob
We have horse, goat and cow manure mixture that we clean out weekly during the winter and put into a pile. Can that then be thrown over the garden in the spring with no ill effect? And if so how thick should it be applied?
I’ve gardened for years but never composted well used the compost because I was afraid I would do it wrong and also was afraid to add the manures to the mix for fear of burning plants. I have a wonderful garden but I’m afraid that I could do better or won’t some year since I am not adding anything from year to year. Thanks for the help!
Great post.
Thanks for all of your VERY informative videos! I really loved this one. I discovered a few years ago to first put down a layer of card board, then put leaves, grass clippings, kitchen waste and horse manure (not in any particular order) on top of it. By spring the earthworms had turned all of it and the rock solid red clay beneath it, into some of the best, easiest worked garden soil I’ve ever seen. During spring and summer I use grass clippings and leaves for mulch between rows (yes-cardboard underneath). Virtually no weeds, new compost being made all the time.
i get big cardboard boxes from behind a local appliance store and break them down. they have kept weeds down in my garden and around and behind all of my outside buildings. saves me tons of work!
We are surrounded by oak trees. This fall we put out 27 bags of leaves, but mostly acorns. What do you do with those? They literally fill the driveway.
Save ’em in a weld wire fence hoop and use them in proportion when mowing season starts. I think it’s 25:1 leaves to grass.
Personally, I bag the acorns and take them to a local animal reserve. They use them to help wild animals in the winter when the snows are especially heavy, or the winter is extremely cold.
I also keep a few around in strategic places in the yard to keep the squirrels going there rather than in my gardens. So far, it seems to be working.
ISorry for my English!
I just realize i didn’t know anything about compost!
I always put all my leaves on my garden over the winter, and this year added about 6 inches of green mulch to the top as well. Can’t wait to see everything in the spring once all the snow melts off the top!!
The ancient Egyptians sustained themselves in a very harsh, mostly infertile environment with sandy soils for more than 10,000 years by composting and recycling ALL of their organic materials… Hint: They didn’t have flush toilets! Sure, they let the Nile River flood, but that wouldn’t have been enough to feed their population over the long run, unless they recycled EVERYTHING, properly. The Ancient Chinese civilization also survived for thousands of years regenerating their fields, year after year, without finite mined materials like rock phosphate (shortages looming!) and finite fossil fuels to make artificial nitrogen fertilizers. They also composted and recycled EVERYTHING. By flushing it all ‘away’ we are creating one-way wasteful systems that are not sustainable. We’re also polluting the oceans with ‘dead zones’ partially as a result of all this expensive and thoughtless ‘flushing’, along with the use of expensive artificial fertilizers. Then we spend more money on fresh water treatment plants to drink the ‘stuff’ coming out of the sewage treatment plants from other towns upriver. Anaerobic septic tanks are no better, creating underground pollution plumes that can foul drinking water wells. The whole practice of ‘flushing’ is senseless. For information on safe, easy, odor free, legal, ‘humanure’ composting methods see: humanurehandbook ‘dot’ com or just do a search on ‘humanure’ Don’t just flush it all ‘away’ and turn it into septic, toxic waste! Every bit of food you eat should be composted back into garden fertilizer. Close the loop! Our long term survival depends on it.
I have read about a company out of Australia that uses human generated waste such as paper, food scraps from restaurants, etc. to produce massive amounts of worm castings. They were part of the success of the Olympics that were held in their country. They had to come up some way to deal with all that trash and vermi-composting was the key!!
So far I have not gotten a worm bin, but I am considering this as well as my compost pile.
I was interested in a Worm a Roo, put out by Gardeners Supply years ago. They have to be housed indoors during the winter and in a cool place outside in the summer heat. They aren’t the kind you could just let run free in the Fall and get a new supply in the Spring. I thought of that. lol
To Doris Cote and David:
Hot compost kills earthworms. Worms are not present in the early stages of a proper high temperature (120F to 160F) humanure composting pile but, they will enter a humanure pile when the time is right, after it has recieved it’s last addition, started to mellow, and cooled down. Local worms will usually find the pile all by themselves. A ‘fresh’ pile that is cool enough for worms is not a safe pile, it won’t kill pathogens. And a hot, active humanure pile will accept all your kitchen and garden ‘waste’, no need for separate piles. Do a search on ‘humanure’ and read all about it. You can learn everything you need to know in a few hours of study. The humanurehandbook.com has all you need to know in one place, free.
Thanks Mike! My favorite ingredients are hardwood bark, shredded leaves, grass clippings, tea bags, and coffee grounds. It always works for me. I love making my own potting soil and mulch. It’s quite rewarding!
Thanks again for keeping us inspired!
James,
Thanks for keeping me inspired! If it weren’t for all of you my inspiration would dissipate.
The blower/vacuum method is very slow and inefficient;
when I get a lot of leaves I use my regular mower with a bag to collect leaves.
When the bag is full I continue to mow and my mover starts shredding the leaves,
but the shredded leaves remain on the grass.
After emptying the mower bag into my brown garden refuse bag I reattach the mower bag and collect all shredded leaves laying on my grass and I use them to build a compost pile and spread in my flower beds (by the way those shredded leaves are mixed already with grass clippings).
It is more productive way to shred the leaves – tried and proven.
I’m not sure I’m ready to separate my kitchen scraps from the leaves & grass clippings. My experience is quite different from his–my kitchen scraps(except egg shells which I no longer put in the compost) decompose nicely. The concept of mixing greens and browns (which would be counter to what he says here) seems more logical and has worked well for me. Without nitpicking (OK, I’m not above nitpicking, who is this guy anyway?) Wish I knew his credentials and whether he has scientific evidence to back up his claims, or if he is just a guy who has strong opinions about his method of composting. Just saying…
Calvin,
If you research Michael McGrath you’ll find that he has the credentials to back up what he is saying about composting. Pretty much a well known authority on the subject of organic gardening.
i repeat then, if he has great credentials he shouldn’t have to call ppl stupid to make his point. makes him look bad
I lived in the Wash/DC area for 20 years and used to listen to McGrath’s program on WTOP even though I lived in a condo with only a balcony to grow outdoor plants I found that he was knowledgeable about a lot of plants and about insect problems. For the most part his problem solving was based in organics.
That said, I don’t intend to start a separate process for kitchen waste. Plants, eggshells coffee grounds shredded cardboard etc. – it all goes into my compost bins.
Like some of the other posters I run over the leaves several times with the riding mower then one more time after I reconnect the bagger and take them straight to compost. That’s my “old guy” solution.
Wish I had access to some sawdust and wood chips too. They make good mulch and break down naturally after a couple of years making a great addition to the soil.
.
Mike, thanks for the great website and all your informative videos and blog posts. Several years ago my daughter and i rescued a bunny rabbit named doug, or dug. He got his name because the naughty little guy learned to dig his way out of his pen. Any way he changed the way i garden for ever!. I now make the most nutrient dense bunny manure compost and my gardens plants and landscape are thriving. I am also using it with some plant propagation i am doing here on a very small scale. I have a you tube page with a video about making my bunny manure compost. Tommy cowett is the page if anybody is interested. I am told there are subliminal messages in the video. I would not know, you have to check it out! Thanks again for all your great knowledge!
We have at least 20 mature oak trees, along side a few maple, locust, pine, so on our 1/2 acre, we have a lot of leaves and pine needles. I shred them with an electric lawnmower and layer the result with other compostables, like grass cuttings, earth, etc. As oak leaves are very leathery, even shredded they take a couple of years to look like anything other than shredded leaves. I use them the first year as mulch (to preserve moisture and suppress weeds) Those left in the pile are a good garden amendment in 3 years. If I’m sick of piling them, I dig a trench in my vegetable garden and bury as much as I can. These are definitely out of sight, and out of mind ! I still use fertilizers (organic, usually fish or seaweed). We still send some in the paper bags because they were unfortunately mixed with grit or gravel from the driveway. We live on a beach so this amendment is absolutely essential to our sandy soil. I don’t collect them from my neighbours, who have even more oak trees and far less garden, enough is enough.
Can oak leaves be used to compost? We have white oaks I believe in our yard.
What about grass clippings? Can they be combined with the shredded leaves?
Midge,
Absolutely. Mother nature does not discriminate when making topsoil, it all becomes compost.
Oak leaves, yes. But they break down slowly because they are full of Tannin and tend to be acidic. If time is no object you don’t need to add anything else and they will compost in about three years. If you don’t have the space to store them or want to wait, you can mix in lots of green material and sprinkle wood ashes and/or lime to bring the pH closer to neutral. Turn i often to get oxygen into the pile and you will have good compost by the end of the next summer.
I enjoyed the video and agree with what he says. I add coffee grounds and tea bags to the compost and everything else goes into the worm bin.Sometimes I add a few habdfuls of grass clippings for the nitrogen, and sometimes my daughter brings me a bucket of horse manure. I have been composting here is Sunnyvale for about 30 years and have soil the consistency of chocolate cake. This from heavy gluey adobe soil! We are in an area that was once a part of San Francisco Bay. Marshlands that gradually filled in a long time age. Drainage is poor, watertable is high during rainy season.
Charline,
Sounds like you have it down and after 30 years I’ll bet the neighbors would love to have your garden soil.
I’ve heard that hair is good. A nitrogen source. Also, nut shells ground up should go in the pile to.
Thanks Mike,
That was a great video. It also makes composting an easier experience for everyone.
When I was in grade school we were taught about several methods of composting, sheet, trench, etc. None of which I have heard of since. before age 90 caught up to me my favorite was trench. You dig a trench about a foot dee and wide and long enough to hod the bucket of compostables,from the back porch. Dump in the stuff cover it with the dirt from the next piece of ditch, repeat from You. Plant next years garden onto of the trench after tilling
Maxine,
I like to make sure the composting doesn’t become more work than the actual gardening. But the trench eliminates compost bins and handling the material again. Most importantly is that you are composting. That’s what matters.
Amen Mike,I have a small tractor that I attach my middle buster plow to and just make deep rows thru garden areas in the fall .If I feel like hauling leaves in.Till it up with the rototiller come spring..I allways think how can I work with nature to help me do things.
i’ve grown six veg gardens on the same small plot and my ground is not depleted yet. i throw my eggshells, banana peels, veg scraps, and coffee grounds right into the garden and let it decompose on top of the ground. no work and my soil is great. my terrier dogs keep away any animals that might be attracted.
Hi Maxine I use sheet composting right in my garden myself, I do it early so there is no conflict with any thing else then I use the stacking method I have leaves that have been in the pile for 4 years they have layered them selves like shingles on a roof this keeps them fresh when I need them I just dig them up shred them and they start breaking down
This should be mandatory reading and digesting for every gardener. Makes so much sense and seems to be so much simpler than all the adding of various ingredients and layering and turning, etc.
Gae,
I agree. For years when I compost I just put it in the bin. I don’t turn it, I don’t sort it, if it’s biodegradable it goes in the bin. Then most of it, not all of it is decomposed I take it out of the bin and add it to my potting soil pile.
Great stuff. Fortunately I have 2 massive trees in my backyard. I do mulch some of them with my leaf blower. When they get to be too heavy near the end of the season I have to run over them with my mulching mower instead. I laugh at my neighbors as they rake and stuff them in those brown bags.
shouldn’t laugh at your neighbors, not everyone is in to gardening. don’t get me wrong i grow all my own food and use leaves but i don’t call ppl who don’t stupid
You’re right, Patty. We shouldn’t laugh at our neighbors.. However, I don’t think Shelley was laughing in a mean way, maybe more in a “Well, there they go again, sweating over those leaves” way. Those neighbors might actually be into gardening, but overlooking the fact that leaves are free mulch.
It is definitely a different way of composting than how I was originally taught. What do I do with all of my grass clippings, though? In the fall, I’ll try one pile this way and another one the way I usually mix it and see which seems better.
Thanks, Mike, for sharing the video.
I was thinking of this as well…but – grass clippings are leaves. I do not put chemicals on my grass though because they would eventually end up in the garden
Excellent video, thanks. Will have to fabricate some kind of shredder.
Note to Sally Robinson. Did you shred your truckloads of leaves?
Get some chickens, throw some stratch on the pile of leaves and watch the shreading while you eat some of their fresh eggs!
Thanks for the video Mike! I have been composting for three years and just started shedding my leaves last fall. The majority of content in my compost pile has been grass clippings all season and large influx of whole leaves in the fall. This method has taken longer to compost then expected.
I was finally able to pull some compost out last spring and used what little I had in my tomato garden. This coming spring I am hopeful because I bought a used yard vac and shredded all of my leaves this last fall.
What are others thoughts about using grass clippings? I had read somewhere that 80/20 mix of grass clippings (80) and leaves (20) was best. I am starting to second guess that information.
Todd,
I like the idea of 20% grass clippings. Grass clipping decompose nicely, but they do get greasy and smell really bad in the early stages of decomposition. By keeping the ratio at 20% the smell shouldn’t be so bad. Really the smell is the worst when they are disturbed. I like the idea of tilling in as much stuff as you can when you can do it. If you till it in in the fall, that’s the end of it, you don’t have to handle it again. A much simpler way of composting.
J.I. Rodahl’s original book goes into incredible detail about composting, and you’ll really get the feel for it. It helps to really want to do it, and then eventually you get to like the smell and goo of it all. I used to start with a pickup load of manure from my local stockyard on a saturday morning. Then I’d add to it whatever was at hand if it was the right texture and consistency, something that would improve the homogeneity as I turned and mixed it. You want to have a picture in your mind of a live, active pile of various substances, each helping the others to break down, until you achieve a pile that is ‘cooking’. You’ll know when it’s steaming. That’s right, and you will soon learn how that works. It depends alot on the season obviously, for in the spring and early summer you have all that green moist stuff, the grass clippings and broccoli and cabbage leaves, and you work in some of those old piles of partially decomposed fall leaves, toss in some ferts, maybe some blood meal and phosphate rock powder and lime and granite dust, and the kitchen scraps too, anything that will make the populations of bacteria and microbes start to grow and divide. And overpopulate! Then the fun part, the watering and turning. A little more moisture and soon it’s cooking, and the steam will tell you what’s happening, whether the pile is becoming more alive or not. Too much and you’ll sense the sogginess, the heaviness of it all. Then when the steam has slowed and the pile cooled, it’s time to turn again. It takes some room to do all this, true, for you want to have a variety of stuff close by to use. We would haul in dump trucks of leaves in early summer, some to till into the garden, some to cover beds with, and the rest to compost. True, it gets in your blood and becomes a genuine pleasure, something you really enjoy doing, something that you look forward to doing, and not just another task…… Try it, you’ll love it……
Wow. Cool paean to compost! Your enthusiasm is catching!
Don’t fall pray to all the details sure you can take it to rocket science but it doesn’t have too. The reason this person has a smell and goo is because he added too much grass good compost doesn’t smell bad nor is it gooey it is damp and loose with a sweet earthy smell don’t worry about percentages of product just put down 6 to 8 inches of leaves top it off with 2 inches of grass throw a couple of shovels of earth from your garden on top this is where you get your bacteria to break everything down go back and do the same thing until you have a pile about 4 feet high if you have a front end loader turn the pile over starting on one end and stop when you get to the end of the pile if you don’t have machinery water the pile and cover it with a black plastic cover and keep checking on it.
Layering the grass clippings thin is helpful.
Is it possible to add too many leaves to a garden? Two years ago, I added SEVERAL truckloads of leaves to our 40′ x 60′ veggie garden. And that following growing season, many things did not grow well. It had me wondering if the brown matter from the leaves outbalanced whatever green matter I had been able to add. Nutrients aplenty from the leaves – but apparently not available to the plants as the Ph seemed to have been thrown off.
The following year I added SEVERAL truckloads of “green” horse manure. Our garden took off like gang-busters. The added green seemed to have put the garden back into proper balance.
I think you can add too many leaves in a vegetable garden as it can affect the flavour of vegetables.
Years ago, one of my sisters offered to take municipal leaves so several truck loads were dumped on their large vegetable garden. Everything grew very abundantly but the big beautiful potatoes were virtually unedible due to the taste caused by all the leaves placed where they grew. I don’t think anything else was so affected floavourwise that it couldn’t be eaten.
Hmmm…I hadn’t thought of that. Do you think it was the tannin in the leaves that caused the bad taste? If she had the leaves dumped into a compost area and let them rot there and then added that soil to the garden, would this problem be avoided or would it just be mitigated?
You wont have a problem with burning your plants with horse, goat, and cow manure these are low in nitrogen if you had sheep or chicken manure use it sparing just close to the plants but not touching them dig in the manure it dissolves much faster.
Her problem may have been from the municipal leaves you get all kinds of junk mixed in I tried this once and found out the hard way so I only got my leaves from the people that was cutting the grass they love you for taking all they have in the fall the same with leaves when you have someone cutting grass or cleaning up leaves ask them if they want a place to dump them for free when they have to haul them away they have to pay for the service
Sounds like the leaves were consuming all of your nitrogen in their breakdown process, not leaving enough for your plants. You also have to pay attention to where you’re sticking your plants. They need to have their roots in the dirt not in the leaves.
Is it possible to add too many leaves to a garden? Two years ago, I added SEVERAL truckloads of leaves to our 40′ x 60′ veggie garden. And that following growing season, many things did not grow well. It had me wondering if the brown matter from the leaves outbalanced whatever green matter I had been able to add. Nutrients aplenty from the leaves – but apparently not available to the plants as the Ph seemed to have been thrown off.
The following year I added SEVERAL TRUCKLOADS
Sally,
I think you could add too many at one time. You have to give the leaves a chance to decompose before they truly become beneficial to the soil.
Certain leaves will lower the ph more than others. I think oak is one of them. Wait until after decomposition to amend the ph back up before using.
The video also says it is really important the leaves are shredded. If not, they’re tarp like, and will take longer to break down. Time will fix it, but maybe that’s part of why your garden didn’t do well right after being buried in leaves?
It can take about a year for the leaves to break down and they should be shredded. I have seen amazing results with tilling in leaves but I also added soil microbes sprayed on the leaves prior to tilling to aid the process. It helped to break the leaves down sooner. Here in central Florida oak leaves are abundant, but the leaves are a lot smaller in size than the oak trees in the northern areas of the US. Either way shredding would help.
the last week of October my son and i hook up the 18′ trailer and drive around town and pick up 300 – 400 bags of leaves to use in our nursery , some we shred the rest we pile in the end of the field and use around the plants in the summer . nutrients and weed control all in one.
Frank,
Great idea! That’s 300 to 400 bags of free mulch and compost combined.