This process is not as difficult as it's often made out to be. If you keep a couple key factors in mind (nitrogen, oxygen, and moisture), you can do this. I did a considerable amount of research before creating this video. Still, I am sure that I messed a few things up....and that's kinda the point; you don't have to be a chemist to compost leaves. Leaves are supposed to break down, you are just helping them along a little quicker.

December 30th - I got these leaves from someone who was going to put them out as "trash." In his neighborhood they don't do leaf collection. These leaves are mostly maple, and that has worked out well. Avoid oak leaves because they are high in acidity; unless of course you are composting soil for acid loving plants (holly, azaleas, gardenias, blueberries, strawberries, and more).

I like to use leaves that have been collected with a mower because 1) They are already chopped up a bit 2) they contain grass clippings which is a source of nitrogen (needed for pile to heat up and break down). As seen, I used a weed wacker to break the leaves up into tiny parts. The smaller the pieces are, the faster they will decompose. Also, small leaves makes it easier to turn over the pile with a pitchfork.

After doing this, you will want to add additional grass clippings as a source of nitrogen (I usually do about a 1:4 ratio of grass clippings to leaves). If you are a coffee drinker, coffee grounds are high in nitrogen as well.

VERY IMPORTANT: When you have done all this, wet down the pile. You don't want it to be soupy wet, just about the wetness of a damp sponge. Turn the pile over as you go so that all parts are damp.

In about 2 weeks, I fluffed the pile / turned it over with a pitchfork to get oxygen in there. By that time, it was starting to heat up; if your pile is not warm, it's not breaking down as fast as it could. Add additional grass clippings / coffee grounds / chicken manure to the pile if it's cold (these are high in nitrogen and will get your compost piling steaming).


January 21st - On this day, I turned the pile over to increase oxygen and check in on how warm it was getting. Additionally, I lopped up the leaves into smaller parts.

April 17th - Even though the pile wasn't done breaking down, I decided to plant spinach and peas on the sides. The pile looks noticeably different but it still looks like leaves.

April 30th - I used fencing to create a compost bin, and moved some of the compost to that.

May 7th - This was a big day. I dug up the whole garden, burying the composting leaves in the soil. Once the leaves are spread out and buried, the soil won't be warm anymore. Fortunately, at that time of year the worms do their thing!

June 20th - The garden is planted and growing. Still, the soil looks very "leafy." Before I put the plants / seeds in the soil, I used a shovel to lop the heck out of the small area where the seed / plant would go in the ground. Once the plant is bigger, the roots will have no problem finding their way through some leaves. Also, by the time the plant is bigger many of the leaves will have broken down. NOTE: I had very limited success with green peppers in this soil because it is high in nitrogen. The pepper plants themselves got huge but yielded relatively few peppers. All the other plants seem to love this soil: tomatoes, spinach, squash, peas, beans, onions.

Check out how many worms I found in just a small area of the garden. They are very efficient in breaking down leaves!

August 14th / 18th - This is video was recorded in the small compost bin I created out of fencing. On April 30th, that bin looked like a pile of leaves. It's incredible how quickly it broke down. You will note, I planted some potatoes in there but had only limited success; they didn't fair well while I was on vacation. The straw in that shot was used to cover the potato plants.

For planning purposes, I would estimate that the composted pile will be about 1/10th of it's original size (original size after chopping, wetting, and settling).

Let me know if you have any questions, and please subscribe.

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