COMPOSTING LEAVES ONLY ( aka Leaf Mold ) for Building Healthy Organic Soil

How do you make/screen your worm castings? Could you do a video on that?

Hairy vetch is a much better cover crop

On another video you show using rye grass as the cover crop and then trimming it down and planting into it directly the plants you want grow. Which of the two techniques work better? Love your info!!

Mark, I have considered asking the city if I could have the leaves they get and burn from the citizens bagging up their leaves in the fall. I am concerned about herbicides and other chemicals they may have had on their lawns. Should this be a concern or am I too worried?

As a retired man, I have the time to shred my leaves in my chipper/ shredder. I have a lot of leaves in my yard and woods. I gather them together with either my lawnmower or blower. I have a spot in the woods where I chip small to medium sized branches and shred my leaves and pine needles. I blow them all to one side of my mulch area and then put them through the machine once more, resulting in leaves the size of confetti. I point my shredder to an L-shaped temporary fence and wind up with a pile about 4-5' high and 15' square. I then cover them with a piece of clear plastic that is quite strong, weigh the ends down and place my wheel barrel on the top.
By time spring comes around, the pile has reduced to about 2' high. After scraping the top layer off with a lawn rake, the leaf mulch under the surface is quite warm and black as night.
I've been doing this for more than 20 years and have never failed to have a bounty of fresh veggies and flowers in my 4 gardens. While it takes quite a few trips back and forth with the wheel barrel, the leaf mulch is pretty light and I take my time adding it to my gardens after the veggies are planted and perennials have reached a good height. I add about 6''of mulch and rarely water or have to pull weeds
P.S. I enjoyed your video very much

wow how nice, i wish i had leaves available like this!

Hi Mark,
I'm a 10K subscriber (today 14 July 2017). I've been enjoying your videos for nearly a year now and you have truly earned my subscription. Thank you for continuing my education. Cheers,
Bill

Do you recommend any other cover crop?

Running that tractor with fossil fuels and mentioned the carbon released by tilling? Any fossil fuel burning is bad.

This is pure gold..new to no till and have more leaves than ever..🌱

Am i the only one who cringed when seeing he started in the middle with the tractor?

I just found your channel

The mikos is in the leaf mold!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!You dont need it!!!!!!!

I have a problem ... :(
I bought four bags of potting soil instead of potting mix I have many containers that have turned into clay like goop due to the rain please help what can I add to make this into a fluffy mix good for container gardening

After watching lots of your videos we are excited to get started right away without having to wait a year or two for a pile of leaves to break down. Here's our question: We have several acres of untouched woodland (mostly hardwoods with a few interspersed pines in Anderson, South Carolina). A few days ago I went and cleared a small area of leaves in an area underneath hardwood trees and found beautiful dark leaf mold that was a bit moist. Could we dig up about six inches of this leaf mold and transfer it to our garden beds? If we do, should we rototill the grass before we lay the leaf mold down, or, what would would you suggest that we do in preparing the garden area before laying the leaf mold down? After we lay the leaf mold down do we cover it with something before planting?

Just found your channel. This is the first video of yours Ive watched. Im imoressed - very comprehensive. Subscribed :)

I live in the desert southwest where it s very dry, hot and windy. Your leaf mold compost is beautiful. I have access to leaves but how do I keep them from blowing away?

I live in Colorado (Dry) do you need moisture added? I can't keep the moisture level high as needed because of the dry climit

I got some leaves from a local place how deep do I need it And do I need to break it down like you’re doing this video

It is January 9th here in the NW part of Washington. Can I still plant a oover crop in my Veggie garden to enhance the Fungi

I collect leaves streetside nights before recycle truck. Just this week i got a call to come move approx 200lb of bagged broken down leaves. Idiots literally scraped it out from under their trees before they re rented a house. My luck!

Yourst 2 minutes very valuable info on cover crop/nitto fixers and mulching to protect good soil from sunburn. A keeper video for reference.

Hey Mark. Would this work with 90% or more of shredded pine needles? We have an abundance of pine needles falling every year.

p.s. We're not worried about stealing our pine trees' natural mulch, as we're planning on slowly clearing the trees over the years anyways.

Thanks!

be ware where you get your leaves some of the may have growth inhibiters in them.

Just the way Forest floor works. You could use a small amount of compost on top to inoculate the leaves

I find that heavy mulch will bring worms and fungi in on their own. There’s no harm in inoculating your soil with extra, but IMO it’s a waste of money in a home garden anyway.

I have turned dense, sticky, stinky, gray clay soil (sludge when wet, cracked and brick like when dry) into rich dark soil full of worms and fungi with newspapers, heavy mulch, and time.

Simply cover the soil with organic material, and it will come to life and be transformed naturally. I’ve turned the worst clay into rich loam and have seen it used to do the same with “sugar” sand in Florida and even turn a gravel driveway into a garden!

What type of worms do u recommend putting in?

What's this crop name? Crumsy clover seeds?
What's the benefit of planting these during winter ❄️???
I always left my backyard garden empty during winter

I know it's a very old video, but it's very likely that is not steam but instead the musty stuff from fungi that becomes airborne when fungal-dominated 'compost' piles are disturbed (e.g. when you disturb a large pile of woodchips that have been sitting a couple of weeks, that isn't steam).

Mark, I follow your wonderful videos religiously and this is my first year to make leaf compost. I’ve gathered pickuploads of leaves, shredded them by passing over the pile many times with the lawnmower, and moistened and piled into pallet bins. I’ve noticed that there are differing opinions on the amount of nutrients in leaf mold, with some saying it’s merely a soil conditioner. Question: Is it your opinion that leaf mold is sufficient in a garden bed and that other compost or fertilizer is not necessary?

How do u keep the leaves from blowing everywhere?

Thank you.

Your awesome! Thank you!

Admittedly I am ignorant but I have always heard to avoid Oak leaves because its a natural herbicide . Is that just a wive's tale ?

I'm surprised u tilled. Doesn't that expose the soil's beneficial micro organisms to death? How could the leaf mold be added without disturbing the soil's living web?

Nice video and learnt a lot from it .
I have a lot of fallen teak leaves . Can decomposed teak leaves be used in garden soil to improve drainage and aeration ?

Wonderful 🙏information on leaf mulch

GM Mark ☕️☕️. Still catching up here lol. My neighbor bags up his leaves & brings them over for me & my son brings a utility trailer full of leaves 🍁 people think I’m a little crazy cuz I always ask for their fallen trees or woodchips & sawdust lol. And now it is hunting season🦌🦌, yep…. I’ll take bones for broth, fat for lard & scrapes for my diy dog food 🐕🐕🐕. All about repurpose/reuse here 😉
Have a great day 👵🏻👩‍🌾❣️

Ran my leaves in my 8 hp mulcher chipper and thought they would not blow away like whole leaves.
Thanks Mark for teaching

ARE THE LEAVES YOU SPREAD ALREADY SHREDDED?

I have a large raised bed full of logs and a large pile of leaves 🍃 🍁 over them. I’m letting them break down for free quality soil.

Does the clover regrow after chopping dow?

Mark I live in Maine and put a 4 inch covering of shredded leaves over my raised beds. I expected that much of it would have been broken down by the time I planted in May. But it had not. What would you advise for this season or next?

Very interesting. Found you through Rose Red Homestead on utube. Wanting to learn how to amend soil organically. Tfs. 🙂

I was using leaves than i kept reading that harmful insects harbor over the winter in leaves and such...which is it?

Hi Mark, what type of worms do you buy? I read that by mowing leaves many crysalisis are destroyed, so I decided to leave my leaves intact. Also thank you for the tip on heating up the soil by tilling the cover crop in. Another question, would leaving tomatoes without support (your 4x4s and cattle pannel) create unnecessary chaos? I am building a bed as you suggested in one of your videos with leaves. Getting 4x4 is a bit of a hassle, so I am trying to creatively stretch and bend the reality. Or not worth it? I am thinking about indeterminate tomatoes. Thank you as always. Galina

What kind of leaves and grass can I use iny garden?

We add leaf mould to every plant 🪴 😀

Hello im from New Jersey and on the side of our house is mostly hard dirt with some grass,should I till first and then throw leaves on top or should I just throw the leaves on top of the hard dirt,does it really matter??? (NEW JERSEY)