Capturing and Using the Leaves of Fall with a Simple Compost Enclosure

In my new video, which I readily admit is more ridiculous than most, Rachel and I assemble a new compost enclosure to deal with the influx of fall leaves:

This is a cheap way to make a compost pile. Though it should be 4′ fencing, not 5′. Today I’m going to cut the top off so it’s easier to access.

You’ll note in the video that, in between all the ads, we started layering leaves and paper with thin layers of highly nitrogenous cottonseed meal. This will help the pile break down into compost much faster than if we simply stacked leaves in the ring. Fall leaves are mostly carbon and take some time to break down – particularly oak and pine needles! They need some help.

The other thing that is important is to get the layers really wet as we add them, ensuring there is anough water in the pile to support microbial activity. A dry pile will not get hot, as you can see in this video:

All the materials were there to make good compost – it just wasn’t kicking!

I bought enough fencing to make a few of these leaf ring enclosures. Maybe if we’re lucky we’ll have compost by some time in the spring. Fall is the time to gather leaves and plan for next year’s gardens.

Another thing I bought yesterday was some hardware cloth so I can make a new sifter. Out in the woods there is already some humus I can harvest – it just needs sifting. But that’s a topic for a future post. Have a great day, everyone. Don’t forget to compost everything!

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