Autumn leaves are falling. It’s time to turn those leaves into “black gold” and improve our soil.
It was not very long into my Heath gardening career that I met Larry Lightner of Northfield. By the time I met him, he was retired from the Mount Hermon School, where he had worked with students to create and maintain some of the school’s gardens. He still had his own productive gardens and had produce to share.
Lightner also had skills to teach and share. He was a promoter of “cold compost.” Most of us know that when we make a compost pile, it should be comprised of green and brown materials that will eventually heat up and decompose.
Hot compost is the standard way we all learn about compost. Lightner made good use of the wealth of autumn leaves to make cold compost. He made wire fencing frames of many heights and depths and sizes.
Many of his cold compost frames were circular and about two or three feet, or so, high. Into those frames, he packed his leaves. It is amazing how quickly fall leaves break down and how many leaves can be added over time to such a frame.
Lightner said his cold compost piles could be made high enough to act as a big raised bed, making gardening easier for those who had trouble getting down on their knees.
My first cold compost piles in Heath were set up inside the stone barn foundation after the barn burned down in 1990.
After the fire, the debris had to be bulldozed and carried away. The soil, such as it was, was not what anyone would call good garden soil. Nothing would grow in it.
The answer was to fill the space by creating a series of wire fencing frames about two feet high and then fill them with leaves, packing them down until the frame was filled.
I made many trips to Greenfield to collect the bagged leaves that many people left by the side of the street. In the spring, I made small indentations in the packed leaves, filled that space with a quart or so of soil, and then planted vegetable starts. The important thing to remember about these planting beds is that they did need consistent watering. Rotting leaves do not hold water the same way good soil does.
By using cold compost planting beds for four years, I actually built up soil that would grow plants — the frames were put aside.
Last fall, we had no need to beg for bags of autumn leaves. Our Greenfield garden was full of them. We still had some wire fencing and built a 5-foot-high ring about four feet in diameter.
All fall we dumped our raked leaves into that frame, packing them down harder and harder as the pile got deeper.
Last weekend we asked our good neighbors, Andrew and Ritchey, to help us lift the frame and release the cold compost for us to spread on our garden. Now, we can start to fill the frame again with this year’s crop.
Ritchey’s parents, Mike and Susan Ritchey, were visiting, and they were on hand to photograph our efforts.
We brushed aside the outside leaves, and everyone was amazed to see the beautiful black gold compost that filled the frame.
What a lesson about the riches of a new fall harvest!
However, after Henry and I were left alone to spread the cold compost, we realized that the pile had not decomposed fully . It turns out, even cold compost needs air and more water than our pile got to decompose thoroughly. We had done a really good job of packing those leaves down hard. No air and very little water made it to the very center of the pile.
We spread the compost and rotting leaves anyway, wetting everything down. I also sprinkled a little soil and mulch over the less composted leaves. The soil will be richer for it in the spring.
Leaves can also be ground up with a mechanical leaf shredder or you can run your lawn mower over piles of leaves. The shredded leaves can be spread over the gardens as mulch and will almost disappear by spring.
However leaves are handled, they return organic material and nutrients to the soil.
Don’t miss this chance to enrich your soil.
2017 Garden Calendar
I also want to let you know that the University of Massachusetts Extension Service Garden Calendar is now available.
The calendar features information about successful gardening during a dry season, as well as special tips for container gardening and extensive lists of suggested drought-tolerant annuals and perennials for New England gardens.
Visit:
www.umassgardencalendar.org
to see calendar images and useful information all year long. The photographs are a selection of plants chosen by the UMass Extension Landscape, Nursery & Urban Forestry staff for pest resistance, adaptability to specific growing environments and seasonal effectiveness.
The calendar is $12. If you order before Nov. 1, shipping is free. After Nov. 1, there is a shipping charge of $3.50 for the first calendar and $2 for each additional calendar up to nine. There are bulk rates, as well. If ordered by Nov. 1, delivery before Christmas is guaranteed. For faster delivery order online at: www.ecommerce.umass.edu/extsales.
You can also go online to get order forms to fill out and mail with a check.
Pat Leuchtman has been writing and gardening in Heath at End of the Road Farm since 1980. She now lives in Greenfield. Readers can leave comments at her website: www.commonweeder.com