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How to Make Compost Without Fall Leaves
Q. You often mention that one of the secrets to making successful compost is to include sufficient "brown" material in the mix, specifically shredded fall leaves. But in the fall, I mow all my leaves and use the shredded leaves as mulch for my shrub and flower borders. As a result, I have little left over to use in my compost pile. I'm hoping you have some suggestions for other sources of brown material. Thank you,
Now—for people in the city (or even in the country with lots of roaming critters around), a worm bin is still often the best answer for garbage. Even I, The Compost King, restrict our kitchen waste to sealed composting units, like tumblers, spinners and those big black recycled plastic ones that have locking lids. The only ‘kitchen waste’ that goes into my open piles is coffee grounds, which attract no vermin and DO add incredibly valuable nutrients to the finished compost.
But even if you do have a worm bin, that still leaves a lot of green matter that should be composted, like spent garden plants, the occasional dead houseplant, and pulled weeds (which are perfectly fine to compost if they haven’t yet set seed).
The long-term answer is to collect and shred more leaves this fall. Once shredded, you can store 12 to 20 times as many leaves in one bag as when they were whole. There is also the time-honored tradition of trashpicking—impossible to resist when people {gasp!} THROW AWAY their precious fall leaves at the curb. And the big bags with ‘yard waste’ printed on them (which I call SPBs, for Stupid People Bags) make pickin’ really easy. Between your leaves and the unwanted orphans of others, gardeners in the realm of deciduous forests should be able to collect, shred and hoard enough leaves to fuel compost making throughout a full year.
OK—enough preaching. I will now—gasp! Again!—directly answer the question. When I was researching my (now best selling!) “Mike McGrath’s Book of Compost” (Sterling publishers; 2006), I pondered this exact query to renowned composting expert Dr. Frank Gouin, retired head of Horticulture at the University of Maryland. His answer? ‘Anything that was once green and is now brown’.
Dr. Gouin explained that the browned out tops of the previous year’s perennials—like black-eyed Susan, Echinacea, ornamental grasses and the like—are perfect substitutes for fall leaves in a compost pile. All their nitrogen has retreated to the roots, he explains—turning what was once a source of nitrogen to carbon (the famous ‘dry brown’ component of compost piles).
The bigger and browner the better—think old cornstalks, the browned out leaves and stems of last year’s hostas, ornamental grasses and the like. And, yes, the browned-out upper parts of those plants should still be there for you to utilize in the Spring—especially the further North you are. The top growth of perennials should always be left standing over winter and only removed the following Spring.
Leaving those tops in place increases frost protection of the roots and crown; it avoids the risk of the weak late season growth that Fall pruning can stimulate; provides food and shelter for birds in the off-season; and gives our landscapes what Martha used to call “winter interest” (before she had to go up the river and make little doilies out of big doilies).
The more dried-out and crunchy, the more usable such materials will be as a ‘dry brown’ component of your pile. Just remember to shred it first—EVERYTHING that goes into your compost pile should be in the smallest pieces possible. This can be a challenge with corn stalks and ornamental grasses, which is why I yell at people to hoard leaves so often—fall leaves are THE low hanging fruit of the composting world.
Yes, straw also works well; but you generally have to pay for straw. And be careful to GET straw and not hay. Don’t believe signage or sellers; if there are visible seed heads in the bale, it ain’t straw. It is animal feed that will make your compost pile a weedy mess.
And for reasons explained in depth in previous Questions of the Week, don’t use paper, sawdust or wood in place of leaves.
A final note: When you pull weeds for composting, keep as much dirt around their roots as possible. Having lots of lively garden soil in the mix can really help move the composting process along with this type of green matter, and will allow you to get by with less brown material than when only kitchen waste is involved.
Helpful Products from Gardens Alive!
Compostumbler® Deluxe Kit - Provides you with a steady supply of rich, organic compost in 2 weeks or less! Just toss in your yard clippings and kitchen scraps and give it a few spins each day. Holds up to 180 gallons of compost.
Compost Thermometer – This 20” probe allows you to reach into the core of your compost to provide you with an accurate temperature. Made of corrosion-resistant stainless steel, and measures temps up to 220 degrees F.
Worm Composting System - Put your garbage to good use with this compact, odorless, easy-to-use Composting System. Redworms break down food waste, leaving behind rich, high quality compost that nourishes your plants.
Q. You often mention that one of the secrets to making successful compost is to include sufficient "brown" material in the mix, specifically shredded fall leaves. But in the fall, I mow all my leaves and use the shredded leaves as mulch for my shrub and flower borders. As a result, I have little left over to use in my compost pile. I'm hoping you have some suggestions for other sources of brown material. Thank you,
- ---Bonnie in Centreville, Delaware
- Kitchen garbage contributes very little plant food to finished compost;
And
- a composter filled with kitchen waste will, at the end of the season, be…well…a composter full of kitchen waste…that the summer heat has not improved.
Now—for people in the city (or even in the country with lots of roaming critters around), a worm bin is still often the best answer for garbage. Even I, The Compost King, restrict our kitchen waste to sealed composting units, like tumblers, spinners and those big black recycled plastic ones that have locking lids. The only ‘kitchen waste’ that goes into my open piles is coffee grounds, which attract no vermin and DO add incredibly valuable nutrients to the finished compost.
But even if you do have a worm bin, that still leaves a lot of green matter that should be composted, like spent garden plants, the occasional dead houseplant, and pulled weeds (which are perfectly fine to compost if they haven’t yet set seed).
The long-term answer is to collect and shred more leaves this fall. Once shredded, you can store 12 to 20 times as many leaves in one bag as when they were whole. There is also the time-honored tradition of trashpicking—impossible to resist when people {gasp!} THROW AWAY their precious fall leaves at the curb. And the big bags with ‘yard waste’ printed on them (which I call SPBs, for Stupid People Bags) make pickin’ really easy. Between your leaves and the unwanted orphans of others, gardeners in the realm of deciduous forests should be able to collect, shred and hoard enough leaves to fuel compost making throughout a full year.
OK—enough preaching. I will now—gasp! Again!—directly answer the question. When I was researching my (now best selling!) “Mike McGrath’s Book of Compost” (Sterling publishers; 2006), I pondered this exact query to renowned composting expert Dr. Frank Gouin, retired head of Horticulture at the University of Maryland. His answer? ‘Anything that was once green and is now brown’.
Dr. Gouin explained that the browned out tops of the previous year’s perennials—like black-eyed Susan, Echinacea, ornamental grasses and the like—are perfect substitutes for fall leaves in a compost pile. All their nitrogen has retreated to the roots, he explains—turning what was once a source of nitrogen to carbon (the famous ‘dry brown’ component of compost piles).
The bigger and browner the better—think old cornstalks, the browned out leaves and stems of last year’s hostas, ornamental grasses and the like. And, yes, the browned-out upper parts of those plants should still be there for you to utilize in the Spring—especially the further North you are. The top growth of perennials should always be left standing over winter and only removed the following Spring.
Leaving those tops in place increases frost protection of the roots and crown; it avoids the risk of the weak late season growth that Fall pruning can stimulate; provides food and shelter for birds in the off-season; and gives our landscapes what Martha used to call “winter interest” (before she had to go up the river and make little doilies out of big doilies).
The more dried-out and crunchy, the more usable such materials will be as a ‘dry brown’ component of your pile. Just remember to shred it first—EVERYTHING that goes into your compost pile should be in the smallest pieces possible. This can be a challenge with corn stalks and ornamental grasses, which is why I yell at people to hoard leaves so often—fall leaves are THE low hanging fruit of the composting world.
Yes, straw also works well; but you generally have to pay for straw. And be careful to GET straw and not hay. Don’t believe signage or sellers; if there are visible seed heads in the bale, it ain’t straw. It is animal feed that will make your compost pile a weedy mess.
And for reasons explained in depth in previous Questions of the Week, don’t use paper, sawdust or wood in place of leaves.
A final note: When you pull weeds for composting, keep as much dirt around their roots as possible. Having lots of lively garden soil in the mix can really help move the composting process along with this type of green matter, and will allow you to get by with less brown material than when only kitchen waste is involved.
Helpful Products from Gardens Alive!
Compostumbler® Deluxe Kit - Provides you with a steady supply of rich, organic compost in 2 weeks or less! Just toss in your yard clippings and kitchen scraps and give it a few spins each day. Holds up to 180 gallons of compost.
Compost Thermometer – This 20” probe allows you to reach into the core of your compost to provide you with an accurate temperature. Made of corrosion-resistant stainless steel, and measures temps up to 220 degrees F.
Worm Composting System - Put your garbage to good use with this compact, odorless, easy-to-use Composting System. Redworms break down food waste, leaving behind rich, high quality compost that nourishes your plants.
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