The Grass Doctor

Can you please help me turn plenty of leaves into organic fertilizer?

Public Comments

1. Te best way to turn leaves into organic fertilizer is to compost them. Since leaves, especially dry leaves are high in carbon, you need to mix them with something that is high in nitrogen. For the quickest composting, the leaves should be shredded, so they break down easier. The source of nitrogen you use depends on what ever's cheapest. Grass clippings work great as do rabbit, cow, chicken or horse manure. For more information, visit our website at- http://www.gardening-at-the-crossroads.com/compost.html Good Luck and Happy Gardening!
2. There are many different ways to turn leaves into fertilizer. I have a three acre treed lot. So, I have a never ending supply of leaves. Sometimes I just use chopped leaves as mulch, but I like to compost it all because compost has many more advantages than just fertilze. So heres what I do. I usually mow my lawn with my leaf catcher attached which chops and collects the leaves at the same time. Any mower with any type of leaf catcher would work. I've even seen people dump bags of leaves and mow them over and over to chop them up. The more chopped up the leaves the quicker they will decompose. While mowing, I'm also collecting grass clippings at the same time. This is the beginning of my compost pile. I simply dump this into one huge pile in the back of my yard. Soak it with water and continue to add organic material, such as kitchen scraps, coffee grinds, newspaper, cardboard. Anything that will decompose. I keep the pile moist and turn the pile every week or so. Usually within a few months, I have finished compost that can be applied directly to my garden, lawn or wherever I need fertilizer. Because I have tons of space, I sometimes just pile up the grass and leaves and they will turn into compost eventually without any effort on my part. But, that takes longer, almost a year. This link has a few other ideas on what you can do: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leaf_mold
3. I love autumn leaves. they can be used as mulch or put into the compost heap or bin. And they can be put into bins and covered with water, lid on and left until spring when they would have decomposed into a sluggy mess... (Good mess) because all you do then is drain off the sluggy water into a container then using say a cup to a bucket full of water hey presto there's your organic fertiliser. The sluggy leaf mess left over can be put into a hole in the vegie garden and thus you have used everything. A really good way to enrich your soil.