You might call those piles of fallen leaves in your yard autumn gold, because you can use them to make compost.
Using the formula below, you can make rich, crumbly compost from leaves, kitchen scraps, excess garden soil, water and air.
Autumn leaves are excellent for composting. Once they’ve broken down in your compost pile or bin, the compost is excellent for building soil quality and growing bigger, healthier vegetables and plants.
The basic ‘recipe’ for compost is slightly more than half brown stuff, and slightly less than half green stuff.
Brown things like leaves and pine needles have high amounts of the element carbon.
Green things include grass clippings and other plant wastes that have high amounts of nitrogen.
You can also add some dirt to speed up the process. The other important ingredient is water, which helps break down the clippings.
You also need to make sure that air can circulate around the pile so the mixture doesn’t rot or get moldy.
Autumn is the perfect time to create a big compost pile. You can fuss with it all winter and let it age for the recommended 4 to 6 months, at which time you’ll have a wonderful batch of rich autumn gold compost for spring planting.
Happy composting!
About Eliza Cross
Eliza Cross is the author of 17 books, including Small Bites, 101 Things To Do With Bacon, and BERRIES. She enjoys sharing ideas to simplify cooking, gardening, and home projects. She is also the owner of Cross Media, Inc. and founder of the BENSA Bacon Lovers Society.