What Is Leaf Mold And How I Use It

---

(click on pic to play video)

In this short video I’ll be showing you how I make leaf mold. More specifically what you will need and about how long it will take to get it to usable leaf mold.

        WHAT IS LEAF MOLD

We use leaf mold in a lot of our garden beds. Leaf mold is letting leaves sit and decompose over time. It is dark brown/black in color, has a earthy smell and a fluffy texture. Leaf mold is just composted leaves. Instead of adding a bunch of organic matter or manure to a pile, you just use leaves and time.

        HOW TO USE/BENEFITS OF LEAF MOLD

You can mix leaf mold right into the soil or lay it on top of the soil like a mulch. Leaf mold will not steal nitrogen from the plants around it when mixed in the soil unless the pile hasn’t had enough time to break down. When using leaf mold in your garden it will help your soil hold water, builds soil structure and increase the beneficial soil life like worms and microbes. Though leaves are not high in nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, trees mine calcium, magnesium and many other trace minerals from the soil and deposits them in the leaves. Your garden will greatly benefit from these trace minerals

The last few years that we lived in the city I’m sure my neighbors thought I went crazy. During fall I would go around the neighborhood and collect people’s leaves they put by the street. When one of them would see what I was doing I would wave and say hello with a sense of gratitude, while smiling from ear to ear. About 99% of the time they would gingerly wave back with a confused look on there face. The other 1% would pretend like they didn’t see me. Didn’t mind there reactions. I new what these leaves were worth when turned into leaf mold and the lion’s share of the labor was free because my neighbors did it for me.
There are many morals you could pull out of that experience. The one I want to drive home is that growing your own food doesn’t have to be expensive or time consuming if your willing to go against the grain a little and think outside the box. Permaculture teaches us to watch the cycles in our zone 5. Part of my zone 5 when living in the city was other people’s yards. When thinking about it in that manor I started to realize what abundance my zone 5 had to offer.

THANK YOU FOR POPPING BY!!

https://www.facebook.com/HOPFarmNC/
https://www.hopfarmnc.com/

---

▶️ DTube
▶️ IPFS