Shredded leaf compost is practical, beneficial and an efficient way to deal with the lack of nutritious ground soil. Shredded leaf compost is aesthetically pleasing for the gardener (who really needs a safe and productive resource for the garden) and his neighbors who really like to have their lawn looking good. Shredding is a rapid and safe way to achieve both humus and/or mulch. There are many kinds of shredded leaf compost, and the smart gardener does a favor for both himself and his neighbors by collecting the multi-colored leaves that enchant the fall, and putting them to good use in a well developed and easily maintenanced, leaf compost.
Deciding to compost with shredded leaves can send a person around the neighborhood looking for lawns that need raking and offer to haul them away for free to have a good supply of nitrogen for indoor worm bins in winter. Leaves, as simply leaves are great for soaking up abundant amounts of water, and can be a great way to make to make leaf mold, that black stuff on the forest floor. But it takes time, and depending on how you leave it, it can take even longer.
Unless shredded, leaf compost just stacks the leaves up on one another leaving a moist and oxygen-less environment which is no good for thermophylic microorganisms. Shredding leaves can be a fun task by just mowing the pile over with lawn mower or using a shredding machine for exactly that purpose.
Most importantly while doing thermophylic composting, be sure and turn the compost often. With shredded leaf compost it’s possible to achieve a nice black humus in a little over two weeks if properly turned. This is one of the main reasons why gardeners like to use shredded leaves in a “hot” compost pile, it can save time on making a rich and urgently needed top soil.
If using highly pathogenic nitrogen compounds be sure that the compost gets itself well heated up first before protecting any ground soil, because pathogens will just march right into the ground soil of the garden with the first heavy rain. A positive point about shredded leaf compost, as mulch, is that it is wonderful at soaking up absurd amounts of water, 300 to 500 times its own weight in water, where as top soil only twice its weight. That can be an effective way to protect sensitive plants that enjoy a more controlled water intake.
If shredded leaf compost is used with passion, the garden becomes a place of deep and powerful emotions. The surrounding trees that look so beautiful in the sacred fall are then synonyms to the wonderful and joy filling chance to crank up the lawn mower and fill the grass bag with load after load of shredded leaves, to be composted or molded as desired. And with a little patience, a fine, rich, black humus is soon achieved, that brings pride to the gardeners life, making the flavor of berried more delicious and vegetables more nutritious. All this from something so simple as shredded leaf compost.
