When I started the garden I was collecting so many leaves to produce soil because here is only sand that doesn't keep the water at all. When I grow in containers I fill them up with leaves to 2/3 so that I don't have to buy so much soil. At the end of the season those leaves in the containers are beautiful soil 🍁🍂🍁👍
New Sub/longtime gardener here, and so glad I found you. I love your channel! You're so very knowledgeable and informative. Thank you for sharing your expertise. Having decided several months ago, on just such a plan for the abundance of leaves from three very large, old trees, I purchased my Brute trashbin with locking lid last week. Being as I'm almost 70yo, and live alone, I thought it would be easier if I composted in a round bin so that instead of turning a pile with a pitchfork, I plan to simply upend the bin and roll it around to mix it up. Last year, with high hopes, I left the leaves as a blanket on the sterile dirt of my new-to-me tiny yard, thinking I would end up with at least decomposed mulch. Well, no such luck! Due to the fact that I live in the high desert, where we are in severe drought, the lack of moisture meant near zero decomp. Newbie mistake. The few areas that I had raked into piles, must've retained enough moisture at the bottom of the piles because in the spring, I discovered beautiful black soil, teeming with life. (Some, like the grubs I hand sifted from the soil, were not so welcome.) Oh! And beneficial, Endophytic growth, which is often mistaken for fungi. In addition, the earthworms I had sown the previous Autumn, congregated under those piles and multiplied like crazy. I was so excited! The other pleasant surprise those piles of leaves brought to my new home garden, were Bumblebees galore. They love to burrow into the ground to lay their eggs for winter hibernation; but they especially love to do so under piles of leaves. Honey Bees seem to be non-existent in my area, but Solitary Bees are beginning to discover they have a home in my developing garden. If it weren't for the Bumblebees this year, I wouldn't have had a harvest. Besides, they're so much fun to watch while I garden. So I'll be creating some leaf mold this winter in a covered bin, and I will also strategically make a couple of large leaf piles for my fuzzy, and squirmy friends, only this time, I will be keeping those piles moist. The third plan I have, is to use the leaves as insulation for my perennials. My area has mild winters, but winter nonetheless, so plants will suffer frostbite if not protected. I learned that the hard way last winter. This year, I'm building cages to surround the berry bushes and fabric pots with perennials, and plan to fill them with leaves, and wrap with thermal Agrifabric. I also started a strawberry garden this year, so those leaves will come in handy to mulch those, as well. Thank you for giving us detailed instructions on how to do this. Now, I don't feel like I'm going into this quite so uninformed. I don't have any mechanical way to break down the leaves, so the fact that you addressed this issue was very helpful to me. Much appreciation is being sent your way, and I will be watching from now on. 😍
Sounds like you have a plan going forward. I had no idea that the bumble bees use the leaf pile over winter. Hope you get enough leaf mold to use In your garden.
I have approximately a dozen very large (old) trees, mostly elms, on my half-acre lot. Normally I just mow the leaves and leave them on the grass, and pile unmowed leaves on the flower beds. But now you've inspired me to bag some of them. Thanks to Costco, I have enough garbage bags to do the whole village!
Predominantly maple leaves that have been collected by mower, finely ground in a leaf mulcher and added to a 4X4X4 composter constructed with pallets/skids and lined with plastic fencing to keep leaf material contained. Started in July using last years leaves, the pile has reduced by almost half. I will top it up to full this month using more of last years leaves. Excited to see the results!! Wished I’d done it much sooner!!
Thanks for the great info on this video! We garden in southern Indiana, zone 6B. I made around 1000 pounds of leaf mold last year with our wealth of trees on the property that we are so blessed to have. I’m really getting into creating as good a version of “Live “ soil as I can in our gardens :-)
Zero trees on my property. But it's great to learn these things anyway. I can't see myself staying here forever. I like the idea of using everything nature provides in a non-harmful way. Thank you Ashley!
Love the video. Thanks for putting up those definitions so that we can learn more about these terms. Glad you posted this while we still have access to leaves in the fall. Can’t wait to give this a try.
Usually just leave every leaf that falls in any pot so this happens naturally. Love that the plants constantly feed themselves with leaf and flower droppings. Good recycling
I think I'll just keep the leaf mold in garbage bins in my backyard shed. Looks tidy that way and the shed gets a lot of sun in the winter. I'll be increasing the size of my container garden quite a bit next season so I could definitely use it. I'll run it over with my lawnmower to make things go faster, our winters are a bit milder than Saskatchewan's so I think it should be close enough to ready by May-June.
I live in a non-freezing area and get lots of oak leaves which can take longer than average to break down. I add a bit of spent coffee grounds to my leaf mould piles to give it a kick start.
I get my leaves from my local park, so a mixture of leaves. I have compost bin with leaf mould which is about 3 to 4 years old. Another compost bin had leaf mould about two years old, however I used it as a brown for my compost heap. I used it to try to improve my peat free potting mix along with well rotted horse manure. It certainly improved the water retention and re wetting of the compost. I dont know if it will help but I have collected a large amount of half rotted horse manure which has lots of wood chips in it. I scattered a few handfuls of leaf mould on it hoping to innoculate it with some fungi. I want the wood chips to decompose quicker.
I have a shredder that turns the leaves into dust I collect the leaves in the neighborhood and keep them in trash bins and fill my beds with it I use it all year as mulch.
The plants I started in leaf mold the last 2 winter/springs out performed the plants started in peat. I also use it in my potting soil mix of 40% leaf mold, 40% aged compost and 20% worm castings, this also worked very well with my soil blocker. One word of caution! If you have jumping worms in your area they will invade any leaf mold bin with soil contact, so beware. Under the microscope it is loaded with bacteria, beneficial fungi, protozoa, nematodes and micro arthropods. Gotta love leaf mold. Stay Well!!!
Hi Ashley, I have made leaf mold numerous times. It has worked great for my garden. Mostly live oak leaves have been easily available to me. I use those leaves whole and they do take a while to mold when left out in piles getting wet just by rain water. Some of the leaves I put into buckets where a sprinkler waters them everyday. Those leaves molded much quicker. This winter I will crush leaves to hasten the molding process to use in the Spring. Tks for this video, it confirms the value of my past processing :)
Would love a video on the allelopathic plants. My yard has many black walnut trees and I hear people panicking over them, but haven’t been able to find studies to back that up.
I get pickup loads of oak sawdust from a local sawmill. Its very moist and starting to turn black already. This is a good idea to put some in a container with a lid in the heat. I have tons of oak and hickory leaves, going to try that . too.
I love leaf mold. After getting compost that had persistent weed killer in it last year, this year I was able to avoid buying bagged compost. I used leaf mold and pelletized chicken manure this year and was happy with the plant growth. Some plants did real well. I also saved money. Its about time to flip my 5'x5'x5' leaf mold bins into an empty compost bin to finish off and get ready to fill them again. It takes almost two years to finish, but I dont chop them up and only flip them once. I have time if its no work.
I love poplar for firewood but the leaves are tough and shiny probably break down slower and they seem to leave an interlocking "tarp" on the ground.. maybe good for smothering weeds ? Get chickens they shred the leaves and mulch the ground and sort and weed and fertilize.. even plant if your clever .
I have access to a wide variety of types of leaves. I rake them up and put them in my chicken pen. They scratch through them and I rake them up again and repeat until there's nothing left. I can rake the lightest fluffy stuff up around their pen. Love my girls.
Hi again, I am interested to know your thoughts on this process...... I was gifted with 3 bags of coffee beans hulled to make commercially-ground bagged coffee. I used it as mulch in garden beds. It helped tremendously to curtail mosquitos. It also helped to nourish the soil in my veg, herb, and flower beds. I'm wondering if it really helped or it's just my imagination. Please advise. Tks as always for sharing your knowledge about gardening. I reside in LA and currently relocating to FL. USA.
I am collecting leaves from local parks that have variety of trees. I will be collecting them in garbage bags and some will go into centaflor tomatoes that I am moving inside.
Leaf mold, by definition, is made from leaves. Ideally, make a habit of mixing green and brown material. Run the lawnmower over the lawn and leaves to mulch everything and you will have a good mixture.
Hello Ashley listening to the leaves :) so this is suppose mimic like the Forest floor I’m guessing. I’m interested in the water retention aspect of this
In your present climate would it work to buy the contained or uncontained leaves in a deep pit? Just an idle thought from an old Aussie with presently 4 heaps and a bin. Sieving a 5 year old pile of mostly oak leaves which has an amazing earthy smell while mostly retaining the brown dried oak leaf color. The fines I'm top dress my vegie beds with before forking in and mulching with sugar cane after planting my warm weather seedlings. The coarse I'm adding to another larger compost pile that's receiving my lawn clippings and general organic waste. Seems to be working so far.
I would love to see a video on oak leaves. If you don't teach me about it who will? Also if make leaf mold in a five gallon bucket and keep it inside during the winter on a heat mat (I live in Montana) will that speed up the process?
I have a question, I live in town but still have a decent backyard with a maple tree. I have a neighbour who has a black walnut tree, I heard they were poison and nothing would grow around them. Can I use it's leaves mixed up with maple leaves or are the black walnut tree leaves poison as well and will kill plants or prevent plants from thriving? Thanks
Pine and other conifer needles would probably be bad due to the oil. Walnut leaves would probably be bad due to the juglone [for some plants and not others].
Why is your pot still up Ashley? Do you not get the aphids if you leave your cannabis up this long ? I always have to harvest earlier and go with the short season plants or aphids get them . Send help lol
I can never understand my neighbours bagging leaves to haul away-This is so foolish... I have an old John Deere 185 with double bagger. It takes in about six bags of grass clippings on every mowing on my 1 acre lot, and in the fall, I get about the same equivalent in leaves x2....A wonderful compost in my three 250 gallon Geobin style composters, that are now made by a variety of competing manufactures....Combine these clippings and leaves with spring and summer vegetable food scraps, and when the next year and season rolls around you have great rich compost for a soil additive...Add worm castings, mychorrizal fungi from your own fertile soil with methods described on YT and other channels, in conjunction with worm castings combination and you have gold.
When I started the garden I was collecting so many leaves to produce soil because here is only sand that doesn't keep the water at all. When I grow in containers I fill them up with leaves to 2/3 so that I don't have to buy so much soil. At the end of the season those leaves in the containers are beautiful soil 🍁🍂🍁👍
Thanks for sharing
New Sub/longtime gardener here, and so glad I found you. I love your channel! You're so very knowledgeable and informative. Thank you for sharing your expertise.
Having decided several months ago, on just such a plan for the abundance of leaves from three very large, old trees, I purchased my Brute trashbin with locking lid last week. Being as I'm almost 70yo, and live alone, I thought it would be easier if I composted in a round bin so that instead of turning a pile with a pitchfork, I plan to simply upend the bin and roll it around to mix it up.
Last year, with high hopes, I left the leaves as a blanket on the sterile dirt of my new-to-me tiny yard, thinking I would end up with at least decomposed mulch.
Well, no such luck! Due to the fact that I live in the high desert, where we are in severe drought, the lack of moisture meant near zero decomp. Newbie mistake.
The few areas that I had raked into piles, must've retained enough moisture at the bottom of the piles because in the spring, I discovered beautiful black soil, teeming with life. (Some, like the grubs I hand sifted from the soil, were not so welcome.) Oh! And beneficial, Endophytic growth, which is often mistaken for fungi.
In addition, the earthworms I had sown the previous Autumn, congregated under those piles and multiplied like crazy. I was so excited!
The other pleasant surprise those piles of leaves brought to my new home garden, were Bumblebees galore. They love to burrow into the ground to lay their eggs for winter hibernation; but they especially love to do so under piles of leaves. Honey Bees seem to be non-existent in my area, but Solitary Bees are beginning to discover they have a home in my developing garden. If it weren't for the Bumblebees this year, I wouldn't have had a harvest. Besides, they're so much fun to watch while I garden.
So I'll be creating some leaf mold this winter in a covered bin, and I will also strategically make a couple of large leaf piles for my fuzzy, and squirmy friends, only this time, I will be keeping those piles moist. The third plan I have, is to use the leaves as insulation for my perennials. My area has mild winters, but winter nonetheless, so plants will suffer frostbite if not protected. I learned that the hard way last winter. This year, I'm building cages to surround the berry bushes and fabric pots with perennials, and plan to fill them with leaves, and wrap with thermal Agrifabric.
I also started a strawberry garden this year, so those leaves will come in handy to mulch those, as well.
Thank you for giving us detailed instructions on how to do this. Now, I don't feel like I'm going into this quite so uninformed. I don't have any mechanical way to break down the leaves, so the fact that you addressed this issue was very helpful to me.
Much appreciation is being sent your way, and I will be watching from now on. 😍
Sounds like you have a plan going forward. I had no idea that the bumble bees use the leaf pile over winter. Hope you get enough leaf mold to use
In your garden.
That is a really nice bud behind you.
I have approximately a dozen very large (old) trees, mostly elms, on my half-acre lot. Normally I just mow the leaves and leave them on the grass, and pile unmowed leaves on the flower beds. But now you've inspired me to bag some of them. Thanks to Costco, I have enough garbage bags to do the whole village!
Thanks for sharing!
Hehe nice Costco joke 🤣 you get the green and white box like me . Saskatoon aswell?
An hour and change south of Saskatoon.
Predominantly maple leaves that have been collected by mower, finely ground in a leaf mulcher and added to a 4X4X4 composter constructed with pallets/skids and lined with plastic fencing to keep leaf material contained. Started in July using last years leaves, the pile has reduced by almost half. I will top it up to full this month using more of last years leaves.
Excited to see the results!! Wished I’d done it much sooner!!
If you use a bucket or trash can, tote , you can get a auger tool for your drill and mix it up easily every so often. 😊
Thanks for the great info on this video! We garden in southern Indiana, zone 6B. I made around 1000 pounds of leaf mold last year with our wealth of trees on the property that we are so blessed to have. I’m really getting into creating as good a version of “Live “ soil as I can in our gardens :-)
Zero trees on my property. But it's great to learn these things anyway. I can't see myself staying here forever. I like the idea of using everything nature provides in a non-harmful way. Thank you Ashley!
Well said!
Collect leaves from parks, quiet roads etc where they will otherwise be taken away. I collect absolutely loads this way.
Love the video. Thanks for putting up those definitions so that we can learn more about these terms. Glad you posted this while we still have access to leaves in the fall. Can’t wait to give this a try.
You're so welcome!
What about raking up after mowing with a mulcher blade? Is grass mixed in ok? No chemical anything used on lawn ever
Usually just leave every leaf that falls in any pot so this happens naturally. Love that the plants constantly feed themselves with leaf and flower droppings. Good recycling
Thanks for the info!
I think I'll just keep the leaf mold in garbage bins in my backyard shed. Looks tidy that way and the shed gets a lot of sun in the winter. I'll be increasing the size of my container garden quite a bit next season so I could definitely use it. I'll run it over with my lawnmower to make things go faster, our winters are a bit milder than Saskatchewan's so I think it should be close enough to ready by May-June.
I learn something from this channel every time. Love you!
Happy to help!
If you conjure up a how to garden book; then I’ll buy it… need one for doomsday prepping!
Thank you, Ashley, this is exactly what I needed to know.
Glad you enjoyed!
I live in a non-freezing area and get lots of oak leaves which can take longer than average to break down. I add a bit of spent coffee grounds to my leaf mould piles to give it a kick start.
Same here... I also add a can of beer. It breaks down much quicker that way. I just compost in heavy duty trash bags
Oooo love that irea
Love that!
Thank you for this info. I had no idea. Not many trees around me so have to figure out out to get leaves in larger quantity. New inspiration.
Nice Kola in the back ground :D.
I get my leaves from my local park, so a mixture of leaves. I have compost bin with leaf mould which is about 3 to 4 years old. Another compost bin had leaf mould about two years old, however I used it as a brown for my compost heap.
I used it to try to improve my peat free potting mix along with well rotted horse manure. It certainly improved the water retention and re wetting of the compost.
I dont know if it will help but I have collected a large amount of half rotted horse manure which has lots of wood chips in it. I scattered a few handfuls of leaf mould on it hoping to innoculate it with some fungi. I want the wood chips to decompose quicker.
I have a shredder that turns the leaves into dust I collect the leaves in the neighborhood and keep them in trash bins and fill my beds with it I use it all year as mulch.
The plants I started in leaf mold the last 2 winter/springs out performed the plants started in peat. I also use it in my potting soil mix of 40% leaf mold, 40% aged compost and 20% worm castings, this also worked very well with my soil blocker.
One word of caution! If you have jumping worms in your area they will invade any leaf mold bin with soil contact, so beware.
Under the microscope it is loaded with bacteria, beneficial fungi, protozoa, nematodes and micro arthropods.
Gotta love leaf mold. Stay Well!!!
Oh man that is wild
Do you ever add any aeration material like perlite or pumice or does the leaf mold create enough aeration on its own?
Hi Ashley, I have made leaf mold numerous times. It has worked great for my garden. Mostly live oak leaves have been easily available to me. I use those leaves whole and they do take a while to mold when left out in piles getting wet just by rain water. Some of the leaves I put into buckets where a sprinkler waters them everyday. Those leaves molded much quicker. This winter I will crush leaves to hasten the molding process to use in the Spring. Tks for this video, it confirms the value of my past processing :)
Would love a video on the allelopathic plants. My yard has many black walnut trees and I hear people panicking over them, but haven’t been able to find studies to back that up.
I get pickup loads of oak sawdust from a local sawmill. Its very moist and starting to turn black already. This is a good idea to put some in a container with a lid in the heat. I have tons of oak and hickory leaves, going to try that . too.
I use my indoor-outdoor to vacuum the dry leaves. The leaves become tiny bits, especially if a few stones get sucked up too.
I love leaf mold. After getting compost that had persistent weed killer in it last year, this year I was able to avoid buying bagged compost. I used leaf mold and pelletized chicken manure this year and was happy with the plant growth. Some plants did real well. I also saved money. Its about time to flip my 5'x5'x5' leaf mold bins into an empty compost bin to finish off and get ready to fill them again. It takes almost two years to finish, but I dont chop them up and only flip them once. I have time if its no work.
I would like to see a video on the different leaves and what to look out for.
Sounds good!
I love poplar for firewood but the leaves are tough and shiny probably break down slower and they seem to leave an interlocking "tarp" on the ground.. maybe good for smothering weeds ? Get chickens they shred the leaves and mulch the ground and sort and weed and fertilize.. even plant if your clever .
Good tip
Regards from France
Thanks for watching!
Chicken runs are great for poo infused leaf mold !
I wish I was allowed to have chickens
@@GardeningInCanada sorry, I keep taunting you with my girls
I have access to a wide variety of types of leaves. I rake them up and put them in my chicken pen. They scratch through them and I rake them up again and repeat until there's nothing left. I can rake the lightest fluffy stuff up around their pen. Love my girls.
That's a great idea!
Hi again, I am interested to know your thoughts on this process...... I was gifted with 3 bags of coffee beans hulled to make commercially-ground bagged coffee.
I used it as mulch in garden beds. It helped tremendously to curtail mosquitos. It also helped to nourish the soil in my veg, herb, and flower beds. I'm wondering if it really helped or it's just my imagination. Please advise. Tks as always for sharing your knowledge about gardening. I reside in LA and currently relocating to FL. USA.
In fall i collect the leaves and bury them in my veggie garden, greetings from Australia.
I am collecting leaves from local parks that have variety of trees. I will be collecting them in garbage bags and some will go into centaflor tomatoes that I am moving inside.
Sounds great!
Very good idea. Was thinking of making use of those tons of fall leaves! We still have them in a big garbage bag til now. 😅
Can you make leaf mould from grass clippings? Can you mix tree leaves and grass clippings?
Leaf mold, by definition, is made from leaves. Ideally, make a habit of mixing green and brown material. Run the lawnmower over the lawn and leaves to mulch everything and you will have a good mixture.
It won’t work as nicely but if does work for mulch!
I never thought of making leaf mold in a garbage bag! Makes sense though. I have so many leaves at my place. It's definitely worth trying. Thanks!
Glad it was helpful!
Hello Ashley listening to the leaves :) so this is suppose mimic like the Forest floor I’m guessing. I’m interested in the water retention aspect of this
Yes, it is!
In your present climate would it work to buy the contained or uncontained leaves in a deep pit? Just an idle thought from an old Aussie with presently 4 heaps and a bin. Sieving a 5 year old pile of mostly oak leaves which has an amazing earthy smell while mostly retaining the brown dried oak leaf color. The fines I'm top dress my vegie beds with before forking in and mulching with sugar cane after planting my warm weather seedlings. The coarse I'm adding to another larger compost pile that's receiving my lawn clippings and general organic waste. Seems to be working so far.
Impressive colas on the plant to your right! 👍
Thank you! Cheers!
I love this! I adore dry leaves in my garden! How about Wood chip mulch? We get tons kf them in our public parks
Wood chips tend to take ages to break down
Before I steal all the tracked bucket from the job site. I have two questions.
How is this not compost?
Is an anaerobic environment the goal?
I would love to see a video on oak leaves. If you don't teach me about it who will? Also if make leaf mold in a five gallon bucket and keep it inside during the winter on a heat mat (I live in Montana) will that speed up the process?
It definitely will!
What strain of gunga did you grow there? Looks ready to harvest
It needed up being stolen 😅
If you have a big tree in your garden, pull back the grass turf under it, the dirt there is wonder soil
Ooo yesc
Thanks!
A bit early to come out as the Soil Witch, but Halloween is great, so a surprise to be sure but a welcome one
I use oak leaf mold in my soil mix for my epiphyllum plants. Its acidic, which they enjoy. Im not sure about other leaf molds.
Is that a large hemp spire in the background behind you?🤔
We've had so much rain in the UK - can i collect soggy leaves - even if they are nearly mushed up already?
I would like a video on allopathy, please. Tons of oaks near my yard.
Yea!
Gotta love the cannabis in the background....
Do you compost them as well or.........
Hah someone actually stole it 😅
Hi Ashley. I only have live oak, magnolia, and redwood (CA coastal, zone 10a). Can I use any of them?
Yea!
If I am using a bucket or rubber maid container, should the container have holes?
Hi ,, Yes , I put holes in my bins & bags. So the worms can get in there to eat the leaves.
Just make sure it stays wet.
It could just keep to moisture up
Another fantastic episode Ashley! Can u tell me if there is any truth to the fact that you can’t use oak tree leaves?
I just filmed a video on this! Will be up next week
@@GardeningInCanada Dannng ur good!!
I have a question, I live in town but still have a decent backyard with a maple tree. I have a neighbour who has a black walnut tree, I heard they were poison and nothing would grow around them. Can I use it's leaves mixed up with maple leaves or are the black walnut tree leaves poison as well and will kill plants or prevent plants from thriving? Thanks
Put a fish or two in with that, and you will grow some wicked flowers; (grandma's secret recipe)
3:07
... I don't know how else to ask but is that a cannabis plant behind you to the left?
Pine and other conifer needles would probably be bad due to the oil. Walnut leaves would probably be bad due to the juglone [for some plants and not others].
Your going to end up with a handful of leaf mold from that bucket. What's the point?
Oh wow I just saw a squarrel running on your fence. Zone 3 saskachewan and you have squirrels? Im zone 3 alberta and there are no squarrels.
Hahahah yes! He is adorable
Why is your pot still up Ashley? Do you not get the aphids if you leave your cannabis up this long ? I always have to harvest earlier and go with the short season plants or aphids get them . Send help lol
Ahh she can't respond cause it's in an upcoming video or previous one if I missed . Perhaps the cannabis recipe one I haven't seen
Like 42 here! Watching from Gander, NL🍂🍁Join our Fall Colours Challenge!
You have leaves already?! Can you repost this in 3 weeks please!?! Jk love your channel and wish you were my neighbour
💚💚
❤️❤️❤️
❤
What weed is growing behind you? Hmmmm 🥰
Yesss
👍🏼
I can never understand my neighbours bagging leaves to haul away-This is so foolish... I have an old John Deere 185 with double bagger. It takes in about six bags of grass clippings on every mowing on my 1 acre lot, and in the fall, I get about the same equivalent in leaves x2....A wonderful compost in my three 250 gallon Geobin style composters, that are now made by a variety of competing manufactures....Combine these clippings and leaves with spring and summer vegetable food scraps, and when the next year and season rolls around you have great rich compost for a soil additive...Add worm castings, mychorrizal fungi from your own fertile soil with methods described on YT and other channels, in conjunction with worm castings combination and you have gold.