How to Compost Leaves in a Plastic Bag

Raking up leaves and throwing them away is such a waste, especially because leaves are so easy to compost! Leaf compost, also called leaf mold, returns nitrogen, carbon and micronutrients to your soil, adds valuable organic matter and helps soil retain moisture better. The simple composting technique described in this article does not require a compost bin or even a rake! All you'll need is a lawn mower and black plastic bags.

Difficulty:

Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Heavy duty, black plastic bags
• Electric- or gas-powered lawn mower with bag attachment

1. Forget raking up your leaves. A lawn mower fitted with a bag quickly sucks up leaves off the lawn, chops them up into small pieces that decompose fast and mixes them with grass clippings, which also aid the decomposition process.

2. Take a large, heavy-duty black plastic contractor bag and poke several holes into it with a knife. Dump the leaves out of your mower bag and into the black plastic bag. Fill the plastic bag ¾ of the way full. Add a shovel full of garden soil (or finished compost if you have it).

3. The leaves and grass clippings will decompose best if they are slightly damp (they should feel like a wrung-out sponge). Check the leaves' moisture level and then add water to the bag (if needed). Give the leaves a good shake and then check the moisture level again. Continue to add water until the leaves reach the correct moisture level.

4. Loosely tie the top of the bag and stick it in a spot in your yard that is convenient, but out of sight. Every couple of weeks pick up the bag and give it a good shake. After about 6 months, open up the bag and check on the leaf compost. If it is dark, crumbly and you can't see any leaf particles, it's finished. If you can still identify leaves, tie the bag up again, give it a good shake and wait a few more months.

Tips & Warnings

• When the leaf compost is finished you can use it to mulch beds or you can dig 1 to 2 inches of it into your soil.

Resources

• DigginFood