At my house there is never a shortage of green material (also known as wet or nitrogen-rich matter) – orange peels, corn husks, dinner food scraps, yard waste, etc. – for my compost bin, but when it comes to finding brown (also known as dry or carbon-rich) material, in the past I’ve often ended up coming up short. The trick, of course, to getting compost to work and breakdown into that coveted nutrient-rich soil is to have the right combination of both green and brown matter.
Two years ago, however, I posted my first Green Tip of the Week suggesting that my readers keep a bag or two (or three) of their dry fall leaves to use throughout the coming year as brown material to add to their compost pile or bin.
If you don’t have a lot of leaves in your yard, chances are you can find a neighbor who’d be more than willing to part with a couple bags of their leaves, especially if you agree to rake and bag them!
Luckily (I guess) for us, we have a tree-filled back yard and never have a problem accumulating several bags of leaves to hold onto, which is exactly what I did last fall and was so happy to have the dry material whenever I needed it. The only problem is that I sometimes still forget to add it (oops!) and then end up with a huge fruit fly problem at the end of the summer (which I thankfully found a remedy for).
After letting the kids spend a good deal of time burying themselves and sliding into the leaf piles, Jody and I got them all raked and bagged. Right now I have about 12 bags of leaves out on the curb for the city to pick up (and mulch), but I’ve also saved three bags in my back yard to add to my compost bin as needed. :) Over at Terminal Verbosity, you can learn more about how to compost.
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Julie says:
Thanks for the linky love! I hope some day we’ll have leaves for our compost bin, but our poor baby trees are just not up to the job yet :)
This is an important post because I think a lot of people give up on composting because of bugs/smells that could be remedied with just a bit more brown matter!
November 2nd, 2009 at 12:21 pm
Amber says:
I have no trees in my yard, or at least not of the kind that shed nice big leaves. So I take my bag out on walks. There are areas where the sidewalks are littered with them, and no one is upset at all if I pick some up for my compost.
I also use them to mulch over my fall plantings, so that the soil doesn’t compact and all the nutrients wash away. Leaves are great!
November 2nd, 2009 at 2:31 pm
Troy says:
i am totally obsessed with composting… and it is a good thing because we have a crapload of leaves in our yard…
not only that, but our trash dropped almost in half once we started composting our food waste…
one thing to keep in mind… you may want to compost your oak leaves separately, they are very acidic… only certain plants like them.
November 2nd, 2009 at 2:52 pm
Crunchy Domestic Goddess says:
Julie, if you want some of our plentiful leaves, just let me know!
Thx for the tip, Troy!
November 2nd, 2009 at 3:28 pm
Twitter Trackbacks for Save the leaves! (for your compost bin, of course) | Crunchy Domestic Goddess [crunchydomesticgoddess.com] on Topsy.com says:
[...] Save the leaves! (for your compost bin, of course) | Crunchy Domestic Goddess crunchydomesticgoddess.com/2009/11/02/save-the-leaves-for-your-compost-bin-of-course – view page – cached My name is Amy Gates. A mama of two living in Colorado, I’m passionate about home birth, natural family living, urban home- steading and other “crunchy” things. I’m trying to change the world, one… (Read more)My name is Amy Gates. A mama of two living in Colorado, I’m passionate about home birth, natural family living, urban home- steading and other “crunchy” things. I’m trying to change the world, one blog post at a time. More about me. (Read less) — From the page [...]
November 2nd, 2009 at 4:03 pm
Rose says:
Great post! My city also has locations where people can go to pick up leaves that have been cleaned off the streets – a great option for those without their own trees. Another good thing to add to compost is coffee grounds, which some coffee shops will give to customers as well.
November 2nd, 2009 at 4:03 pm
Condo Blues says:
I have such a small yard and small tree in it that browns for my compost bin are always lacking. I compost paper from my paper shredder. It’s very satisfying to shred and then compost the items I get from organizations I don’t agree with and can’t get off of their mailing lists!
November 2nd, 2009 at 9:18 pm
Lisa @ Retro Housewife Goes Green says:
I think I put to much brown in my compost. I get worried it will start so smell and add more lol.
November 3rd, 2009 at 1:24 am
Enjoy Birth says:
I want to give you a medal for all the great work you do in promoting positive motherhood! E-mail me so I know where to send your medal!
November 3rd, 2009 at 12:43 pm
Save the leaves! (for your compost bin, of course) | Crunchy … | heirloomgardeningfordummies.com says:
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November 3rd, 2009 at 4:55 pm
Sommer @greenmom says:
I guess we compost naturally because we pile all of ours down at the bottom of our hill each year but our neighbor burns them and it burns me to see that happen! Grrr.
November 7th, 2009 at 3:10 pm
Mary @ Parenthood says:
We usually save our leaves but not the last couple of years as we are doing battle with a form of maple blight. If your leaves have spots or fungus of any kind our arborist says that you should make sure get them off the ground as soon as possible and not to put them back into your soil as compost. Sigh…
We’ve been saving grass clippings and then letting them dry instead but it isn’t nearly as convenient!
November 11th, 2009 at 7:36 am
Readers of the Longmont Ledger, welcome to my blog :) | Crunchy Domestic Goddess says:
[...] foods when possible, using reusable products (cloth napkins, bags, etc.) instead of disposable, composting our food scraps, cloth diapering my kids (I was better at it with my oldest than I am with my [...]
December 7th, 2009 at 6:21 pm