Neighbors!

Thank goodness for neighbors that don’t get it...every year my neighbor diligently bags and piles about 10 tractor loads of lovely leaves. I’ve tried to explain how I use them but to no avail. To them they are garbage.



I just got 4 loads today. Gold to me!

I was looking forward to a discussion about how beneficial you found it to compost your neighbours... maybe some helpful tips on how to store them live for a while first to detox before adding to the bin...

Oh well...


My neighbours also give me their leaves, but previously they burned all the cottonwood leaves that they rake up. Soaking wet, of course; a stinking smoking mess of a fire. There was nothing stopping them from just chucking them onto this large and previously vacant property, but for decades they diligently collected and burned them. *siiigh*

Hi Janet,

I suspect your neighbors do get it....just as my neighbors get it.  They simply have not made the choices we have.  In the end, whether they get it or not, we end up in the same place ......with some great gifts.   Now if we didn’t get those gifts, I would say they don’t get it.

I have found that pound for pound leaf mold is the greatest amendment to my soil type.
I grow massive amounts of comfrey, have endless supplies of cow, goat and chicken manure; worm bins and so on all  add up to great garden soil.
The massive piles of leaves I throw into a corner to rot down a year or two give me very deep, black, rich soil that makes my clay / hardpan into true garden soil.
There is nothing more simple than a rotted down pile of leaves and it seems to be what all of my trees and plants want more than anything else.

Janet, It is great that you scored all those leaves!

John said "I suspect your neighbors do get it....just as my neighbors get it.  They simply have not made the choices we have.

For many people life is busy.  Your neighbor probably leads a busy life and just has no time or interest in gardening.  They see no need to leaf mold.

Ralph said "I have found that pound for pound leaf mold is the greatest amendment to my soil type.

This!

I have to add.....gardening is such a gift for me.  I keep building more and more flower beds; more and more garden beds.  I grew up in the country on the land and as I age I find my needs for anything else diminish.  

I have learned a lot from this site that had taken me back to the way my grandparents lived.  It is an exceedingly satisfying way to live.

Than you all.