Papa, the trees are going to sleep. My older daughter informs me while we are laying on the grass, watching another leaf fall down. The baby runs to retrieve the brooms, and my daily task of sweeping around the house begins. My two little girls help in their fashion, having a great deal of fun. As I am picking the leaves up, I look down the street to see that many of my neighbors have left sacks of leaves by their curbs. Should I remind them that they are not allowed to set these out until the night before pick-up? A mischievous thought I know, but maybe they would then consider doing something else with their leaves, like a compost pile.
    Have you ever studied composting? Composting can become quite involved, and I think that you may need three bins, or some special bin, can deter people from beginning their own compost pile. We want the easy route, so we leave the bags by the street. By the way, you are required to place these leaves in the appropriate type of recyclable bag. I noticed that a few neighbors have not done so today. If I were looking for the perfect compost, I might give up on the idea of making my own. Yet I do want the benefits of this wonderful material. Those leaves that I swept up could become a mulch or organic matter for my plants next year. That could save me money. Considering strategies for making composting simple, I do a couple of things with my leaves that does not take any special effort.
    Using the leaves as mulch is one idea. I do have a shredder, and I can tell you form experience that mulching all of my leaves for mulch was quite a task. Now I throw my leaves under a bush or in a garden bed as they are. For most beds, the appearance of this mulch is not important, but where visitors may see it, I sprinkle a little cedar mulch over the leaves. As a home inspector, I will warn you that you do not want to raise the level of garden beds near the home to high. Insects use the mulch as cover to enter into the home, and moisture from the mulch can help to damage the walls of the home, so keep the mulch away from the wall.
   Creating a simple compost pile takes little effort. Layered compost piles is on traditional composting method which you can modify for your own home. If you have a yard with a row of bushes along a fence, you have a perfect spot. Throw the leaves down behind the bushes. Keep doing this until most or all of your leaves have fallen off of the trees. Then you can add a layer of green trimmings. On top of it all, you sprinkle a layer of compost from your home improvement or garden center. Finally, you leave it alone. You could repeat the steps if you so wish to build another compost pile on top of this one. Next year in the fall, you will have compost for your garden beds and lawn. This method does not produce the rich compost that you may have seen, but I do not have to pay for it, and best of all, this really helps the plants.
    I see any garden material being left at the curb for pick-up as a waste of a precious resource. Walking through my neighborhood, I notice that many gardens have no mulch. We do have mild winters; however, there are days when the plants could use a little warmth from the mulch. I have been surprised by how little rain that we have had in Houston. The garden beds with their layer of mulch fare better than the others. Mulch keeps the moisture in the ground, so we water less. Most of us might think about that fact during the summer, but have you realized that you may need mulch for the same reason at this time of year? Remember compost happens.

From a Houston garden to the table - A site dedicated to gardening and cooking in Houston.

I always have a compost pile going, but this year I would like to try something different.

I was sweeping up the leaves around the front yard when a neighbor stopped to ask if I wanted his rake or leaf blower. I told him that I was fine. He said it would go faster. Yes, but I find the motion of sweeping relaxing, so I was in no hurry. My 3 year old daughter came to help, which meant attacking me and the leaves with a rake (a quest inspired by Samurai Scooby Doo). In the end, she and my baby daughter had fun going through a huge pile of leaves.

    I have thrown some leaves away recently, but I prefer to use them as a mulch or for my compost. Since I have been redoing my garden layout, I lost my original area for the compost pile. I do have two piles going though. I use a layer technique, where I do not have to worry about them too much. In this style of composting, you layer materials for good effect, then cover everything with dirt. You will have a layer of decayed material followed by a layer of green matter. I run all of the leaves through my chipper to help the decomposition process. This method works, but it does take a while to get good compost.

    I had a compost bin, where I turned the pile every so often. For this method, you really need two bins, because you turn the compost over to help the decomposition process. I think that this work discourages many homeowners from having a compost pile. For me though, it was the space needed as a work area. You need about six square feet for each bin. There has to be enough room in front of the bins for you to work at turning over the pile.

    An alternative is to have one of these round plastic tumbler bins for your compost. They say that you just need to give the bin a turn each day (the bin being in a frame with rollers), and you will have compost faster. I have to see how much that will be. Maybe I can build a frame from pvc pipe. Use round trash cans as my bins. That may work. Maybe it is time to experiment again.

From a Houston garden to the table - A site dedicated to gardening and cooking in Houston.