How to Collect and Compost Leaves

If you let leaves lie for long on small plants, they may begin to rot due to the lack of light

Many people are embracing modern pushes towards making the earth greener and promoting recycling. This includes organic matter as well. Collecting and composting leaves is easy and resourceful. You can get help from your family and friends by having a “rake party” or you can spend the day in some therapeutic raking of your own. Just follow a few tips and you can clean up your leaves and create your own organic potting material.

Things You'll Need

• Leaves
• Rake
• Mulching bin
• Broom

Instructions

1. Collect all the leaves in the yard except oak leaves. Never waste the leaves that accumulate in your garden. They will make excellent garden compost if you collect them and allow them to rot down. This rule doesn’t apply to oak unless you intend to run the leaves through some type of shredder.

2. Remove leaves quickly. Never let leaves lie for long on your lawn because the grass beneath them will turn yellow and be prone to disease. On a small lawn, rake them up with a lawn rake.

3. Make collecting leaves easier on yourself. You can buy special tools to lift the leaves without too much bending, but using two pieces of wood is also an effective method of lifting them once they have been brushed into a heap.

4. Remove leaves from flower beds. In addition, to what leaves do if they are left on the ground, they can damage areas of grass as well as smother other small plants in beds and borders.

5. Sweep up any leaves on paths or patios. The leaves that build up on paths and drives are best brushed up with a broom and moved to the compost bin

6. Shred large waxy leaves. Usually if a leave has a waxy appearance, then it will take longer to break down into compost. Oak leaves in particular need to be shredded or pulverized to speed up decomposition.

7. Add leaves with other organic matter to the mulch bin. Leaves can be added to the compost heap, but some leaves rot down slowly, so it is best to compost large quantities on their own. Rotted leaves are also a useful addition to potting composts or soil mixes.

Tips & Warnings

• Wear gloves or you will get blisters from raking.