- 1 day ago
Turn fallen leaves into useful garden compost faster with a simple homemade liquid compost activator. This practical gardening guide explores how moisture, nitrogen, and beneficial microorganisms work together to help dry leaves break down, and why some piles take months to decompose.
Learn ways to use garden waste to make organic material for your plants, avoid common composting mistakes, and reduce reliance on store-bought garden fertilizer. This leaf composting tutorial is for gardeners looking for straightforward composting tips and a more useful purpose for autumn leaves.
Explore natural compost accelerators, homemade compost methods, faster leaf decomposition, and garden waste recycling in this approachable guide to making nutrient-rich compost at home.
Learn ways to use garden waste to make organic material for your plants, avoid common composting mistakes, and reduce reliance on store-bought garden fertilizer. This leaf composting tutorial is for gardeners looking for straightforward composting tips and a more useful purpose for autumn leaves.
Explore natural compost accelerators, homemade compost methods, faster leaf decomposition, and garden waste recycling in this approachable guide to making nutrient-rich compost at home.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00Every fall the whole country does the same foolish thing.
00:03We rake up the richest free gift the year gives us, the fallen leaves,
00:08packed with the goodness the tree pulled up out of the deep soil all summer,
00:12and we stuff them into bags and set them at the curb to be hauled away.
00:17And come spring, those same folk drive to the store and pay good money
00:22for bags of black, crumbly soil that is nothing but rotted-down leaves.
00:27They threw away the gold in October and bought it back in May.
00:32Today I will show you how to take that same free pile of leaves
00:36and turn it into finished black compost not in two years,
00:40the way a leaf pile left alone takes, but in about three weeks.
00:44There is one thing you add to those leaves that makes all the difference.
00:49A plain liquid near every homestead has for free.
00:52Stay with me, for the trick is in the one thing most folk leave out.
00:58Now let me tell you first why a pile of leaves, left to itself,
01:02takes so terribly long to rot, for once you understand that,
01:06the whole fix makes plain sense.
01:09A fallen leaf is a slow thing to break down for two reasons.
01:13The first is that the leaf is near all carbon, the dry brown woody stuff,
01:19and very little of the other thing the rotting needs.
01:23The second is the leaf's own skin, a waxy coat, a thin waterproof shingle
01:29the tree grew to hold its moisture in all summer.
01:32And that same wax now sheds the rain and keeps the damp out.
01:37So a whole, dry leaf just lies there year after year, refusing to rot,
01:43the way the leaves at the bottom of the woods lie whole for seasons.
01:48A pile of whole, dry leaves has shut its own door against the rot you want.
01:54That is the thing we fix, and it is easily fixed.
01:58I gathered the whole of it into a book at EliasYoder.com.
02:02The book is the long version.
02:04If you want it, it is there.
02:06I will not mention it again.
02:08So here is the heart of the whole matter,
02:11the thing that turns a two-year pile into a three-week one,
02:15a thing the old folk understood in their bones,
02:18though they never used the fine words for it.
02:21The rotting of a thing is the work of little living creatures,
02:25too small to see, that eat the dead leaf and break it down.
02:30And like any working creature, they need two kinds of food.
02:34They need the brown, the carbon, the dry, woody stuff,
02:38and that your leaves give in great plenty.
02:41But they also need the green, what the learned call nitrogen,
02:45and that is the very thing a pile of dry fall leaves has almost none of.
02:51It is like asking a man to work all day on bread alone with no meat.
02:56He cannot keep at it.
02:58So the little workers in a pile of pure leaves starve for the green,
03:03and they labor so slow and so few that the pile takes years.
03:09Give them the green they are missing, and they multiply into a great host
03:13and fall to the work with such a will that the pile heats up and cooks itself down in weeks.
03:20The whole secret of fast compost is nothing but this.
03:25Feed the brown a good dose of the green.
03:28Now, what is the green, the nitrogen, you add?
03:32Here is the plain old homestead answer,
03:35the best and the oldest, and it costs you nothing.
03:39It is manure.
03:40The droppings of your animals, your hens, your horse, your cow, your rabbits,
03:47that is nitrogen in its richest and most natural form,
03:51and the old folk never had a compost heap not built on it.
03:55And the finest way to add it to a great pile of leaves
03:59so it reaches every leaf and not just where you happen to drop it
04:03is to make of it a liquid.
04:05You take a shovelful or two of manure,
04:08or a few good handfuls of the dried, pelleted hen manure
04:12and put it in a bucket of water and let it stand a day or so,
04:16stirring now and then, until the water goes dark as strong tea.
04:21That dark water is alive with the very food your pile is starving for.
04:26Folk who keep no animals can dissolve a few scoops of blood meal
04:31from the garden store in the water instead,
04:33and that works the same, the same green only bought instead of gathered.
04:39But with so much as a few hens, you have it for free,
04:42and free is always the better bargain.
04:45Here is why the liquid beats the dry,
04:47and it is worth your minding,
04:50for it is the difference between a pile that cooks
04:52and one that just sits damp.
04:54If you scatter dry manure or dry powder through a pile of dry leaves,
05:00it lands in clumps and patches,
05:02rich in one spot and starved in the next,
05:05and much of the leaf never meets the green at all.
05:08But a liquid soaks and spreads.
05:12Poured over the pile as you build it,
05:14it carries the nitrogen down into every layer
05:17and wets the leaves at the same time,
05:19for the little workers need the pile good and damp besides.
05:23The liquid does two jobs at one stroke,
05:27feeds the pile and waters it,
05:29and reaches where dry stuff never would.
05:33Spread the green as water,
05:35and you spread it everywhere.
05:37But before ever you pour,
05:39there is the one step most folks skip,
05:42and it unlocks the whole thing.
05:44You must break the leaf's waxy skin,
05:47that waterproof shingle,
05:49or the liquid just runs off the whole leaves
05:52the way rain does,
05:53and your pile stays dry at the heart.
05:56The way you break it is you shred the leaves,
05:59chop them up fine.
06:01The grand way is to run them over with the mower,
06:04or through a shredder if you own one,
06:06quick and thorough.
06:08But do not think you must own a machine.
06:11You can heap your dry leaves
06:13and chop through them with a sharp spade,
06:15or pile them in a barrel
06:17and go in with the string trimmer,
06:19or, if the pile is small,
06:21tread them down underfoot.
06:23However you do it,
06:25the aim is the same,
06:26to tear the whole waterproof leaf
06:28into little pieces
06:30so the wax skin is broken open
06:32and the wet and the little workers
06:34can get inside.
06:36A shredded leaf
06:37soaks up the liquid like a sponge,
06:39where a whole leaf
06:40shed it like a roof.
06:42Shred them first.
06:43It is the step that makes all the rest work.
06:47Now I will walk you through the building of the pile,
06:50plain and in order,
06:52for the way you stack it matters.
06:54First, you build it right on the bare earth,
06:57not on a board or a stone
06:59or a sheet of plastic,
07:01for up out of that living soil
07:03come the very workers you need,
07:05the worms and the little creatures,
07:07climbing into your pile on their own
07:09to join the labor.
07:10Set it on bare dirt
07:12and you have invited the whole underground
07:15to help you for free.
07:17Second, you build it in layers,
07:19a layer of shredded brown leaves,
07:22then a good soak of your dark green liquid poured over,
07:26then more leaves,
07:27then more liquid,
07:29up and up.
07:30And if you have other green scraps,
07:33vegetable peelings,
07:34and fresh grass clippings,
07:36layer those in too,
07:37for they are more of the green
07:39and they only help.
07:41Layer the brown and wet each layer
07:43with the green as you go.
07:45And third,
07:46a thing folk get wrong
07:48and then wonder why their pile sits cold.
07:50You must build it big enough.
07:53A compost pile is like a fire.
07:56A single stick will not stay lit,
07:59but a good armload of wood together
08:00holds its own heat and burns strong.
08:04Your pile is the same.
08:05It must be of a good size
08:08to hold the heat its own working throws off,
08:11for the heat is what speeds the rot.
08:13A little scattering of leaves a few inches deep
08:16will never warm up and never cook.
08:19You want to pile at the least a yard high
08:22and a yard wide and a yard deep,
08:25for only a heap that size
08:27holds its warmth at the heart
08:28and climbs to the heat that does the fast work.
08:32Build it big,
08:33or do not wonder that it sits cold.
08:36Now the moisture,
08:37the thing most often got wrong,
08:40too dry on the one hand,
08:41or a sodden, stinking mess on the other.
08:45The rule the old folk gave
08:46is the plainest and the best there is.
08:49Your pile should be damp as a wrung-out sponge,
08:52and no wetter.
08:54Wet right through,
08:56so that if you squeezed a handful,
08:58you could feel the damp
08:59and maybe raise a drop,
09:01but not so sodden
09:02that water runs streaming out of your fist.
09:05Too dry and the workers go still
09:07and the rot halts.
09:09Too wet and the air is driven out
09:11and the pile turns sour
09:13and slimy and stinks,
09:15for then the wrong sort of rot takes over.
09:18If the rain has made it a swamp,
09:21fork in dry leaves to soak up the wet.
09:24If it has gone dry,
09:26pour on more of your liquid or plain water.
09:29Keep it as a wrung sponge
09:31and it will cook sweet and clean.
09:33And the air,
09:34the last of what the pile needs,
09:36which brings the one bit of real labor
09:38in the whole business,
09:39the turning.
09:41The little workers that do the fast hot rot
09:43must breathe,
09:44and as they labor,
09:46they use the air up
09:47and the heart of the pile goes airless
09:49and the work slows.
09:51So you turn the pile,
09:53fork it over,
09:54bring the outside to the middle
09:56and the middle to the outside
09:57and let the fresh air back in.
10:01Here is how you know when.
10:03In a day or two,
10:05if you have done it right,
10:06you will thrust your hand
10:07into the heart of it
10:08and feel it hot,
10:10truly hot,
10:11near too hot to hold your hand in.
10:14And that heat is the thing working.
10:17You let it ride at that heat
10:19and when, after some days,
10:21you feel it cooling,
10:23that is the pile telling you
10:25it has used up its air
10:26and wants turning.
10:28You turn it
10:29and the fresh air
10:30sets it roaring again.
10:31Turn it every few days
10:34as it cools,
10:35three or four times
10:36over the three weeks,
10:37and each turning
10:38drives it on.
10:40A pile you never turn
10:42will still rot,
10:44but slow.
10:45A pile you turn
10:46every few days
10:48cooks down fast.
10:50My grandfather built his leaf pile
10:52the same way
10:53every fall of his life
10:55and I helped him at it
10:56as a boy.
10:57We would rake the year's leaves
10:59into a great heap
11:00and he would have me
11:01chop them small
11:02and then he would come
11:04with the wheelbarrow of muck
11:05from the hen house
11:06and the bucket of water
11:07and we built it up in layers,
11:10leaves and the dark manure water,
11:12leaves and water.
11:15A few days on
11:16he would take my hand
11:18and press it down
11:19into the heart
11:20of that pile
11:20and I would snatch it back
11:22for it was hot
11:23as a loaf
11:24fresh from the oven
11:25and he would laugh
11:26and say,
11:27there,
11:28do you feel it working?
11:29That is the whole of it
11:30alive in there.
11:33I asked him once
11:34why we did not just
11:35leave the leaves
11:36to rot on their own.
11:38He said the leaves
11:39will rot on their own
11:40in two years,
11:41child,
11:42or they will rot
11:43for us in three weeks
11:45and the only difference
11:46is a bucket of hen water
11:48and a bit of honest turning.
11:51I would rather pay that
11:52than wait two years.
11:55I did not understand
11:56his arithmetic as a boy.
11:58I understand it now.
12:00So let me say plainly
12:02who gains by you believing
12:04good garden soil
12:06is a thing you must buy
12:07in a plastic bag.
12:09The folk who sell
12:11the bagged soil
12:12gain every spring
12:13and twice over
12:15for the very leaves
12:16you bagged up
12:17and paid to have
12:18hauled off in the fall
12:20are the raw stuff
12:21of the soil
12:22they sell back to you
12:23in the spring.
12:25You paid once
12:27to be rid of the gold
12:28and again
12:29to buy it back.
12:31It is not that anyone
12:33schemed it so.
12:34It is only that
12:35a bag of soil
12:36can be sold to you
12:37season after season
12:39and a heap
12:40of your own leaves
12:41rotted down
12:41in the corner
12:42cannot
12:43so the bag
12:44is pushed
12:45and the old
12:46knowing of the leaf pile
12:47is let slip.
12:49But the leaf pile
12:50was always better
12:51and always free
12:53and it makes
12:54a richer,
12:55livelier soil
12:56than any bag
12:57ever held.
12:59And here is
13:00the honest word
13:01I owe you
13:02for I will not
13:03sell you a wonder.
13:05You will see
13:06this trick
13:07called a thing
13:08that melts leaves
13:09in days
13:10and that is
13:11the flashy talk
13:12of folk
13:13who want your click
13:14not your good.
13:16It is not days.
13:18It is about
13:19three weeks
13:20of a hot pile
13:21turned faithfully
13:22and longer
13:23if your weather
13:24is cold
13:25for the cold
13:26slows the working
13:27as it slows
13:28all things.
13:29And it does not
13:31melt the leaves
13:32it rots them
13:33the honest old way
13:35only sped up
13:36by the green
13:37you fed it
13:38and the air
13:39you turned into it.
13:41Three weeks
13:42to a crumbly
13:43dark compost
13:44you can use
13:45and a few weeks
13:46more if you want
13:47it finished
13:47down to the fine
13:48black earth.
13:50That is the true
13:51of it
13:51and the true
13:52is good enough
13:53for three weeks
13:55against two years
13:56is a wonder enough
13:58without any lie
13:59laid on top of it.
14:02Now tell me this
14:03in the comments
14:04What do you do
14:05with your leaves
14:06come fall?
14:07Do you build them
14:08a pile like this
14:09or have you been
14:10bagging them up
14:11and setting them
14:12at the curb
14:13all these years?
14:14And tell me as well
14:16what you keep
14:17for animals
14:17if any
14:18your hens
14:19or your rabbits
14:20or a horse
14:21for that tells me
14:23what you have on hand
14:24for the green
14:25the nitrogen
14:26and I will tell you
14:28which of yours
14:29makes the best
14:30dark water
14:31for the pile.
14:32Next time
14:32I will show you
14:33the simple
14:34framed bin
14:35to build your pile in
14:37so it stands up
14:38neat and square
14:39and holds its heat
14:40even better
14:41than a loose heap
14:42made from a few
14:43old pallets
14:44you can get
14:44for nothing.
14:45But for now
14:46this fall
14:47do not bag up
14:49the richest
14:49free gift
14:50the year gives you
14:52and pay to have
14:53it hauled away.
14:54Shred it
14:55wet it
14:56with the green
14:56it is missing
14:57build it big
14:58and turn it
14:59and by the time
15:00the first snow flies
15:02you will have
15:03a heap
15:03of black gold.
15:05The people
15:05who built this country
15:06with their hands
15:07knew that
15:08and we are only
15:09just starting
15:10to remember it.
15:11and we
15:11and we
15:11and we
15:11see you