Fall is upon us and the leaves are falling.  What in the world to do with them all?  If you have not already established some form of a compost pile to turn these masses of leaves into rich, valuable organic matter then we encourage you to do so.  Organic matter is defined as "decomposed material derived from previously living matter".  Organic matter is important because it provides a home for micro-organisms or "critters", as I like to call them.  Plants make their own food for energy through photosynthesis.  Water and nutrients are also are taken from the soil through the roots.  Therefore, fertilizer is a nutrient supplement rather than "food".  At any rate, all of these components are essential to proper growth of plant material.  The "critters" convert nutrients into available forms for root absorption.  Organic matter harbors "critters".  A sterile soil is one with little or no organic matter, consequently containing limited micro-organisms.  Since compost is a fabulous source of organic matter, it is truly "Gardener's Gold".  Additionally, compost improves the physical structure of the soil.  Incorporation of compost gradually breaks up heavy clay, improves poor drainage, and creates a healthy soil.

    Generally, compost bins are not terribly attractive, so you may want to find an out of the way spot in the yard to construct your heap.  You will want to construct a bin made from fence wire, wood, or masonry.  You will want your bin to be 3 or 4 feet high, wide, and deep. Masonry is attractive but more expensive and time consuming to build.  Wood could be three wooden pallets standing on edge and lashed together to form a bay to hold the materials in place as a pile.  Fence wire could be attached to four fence posts to develop a bay.  Old pallets are an excellent source of free bin material and prove to be very functional.  They fit into the "U. B. Good" category - Ugly But Good!

    We consider materials with brown coloration to be sources of high carbon content and sources with green coloration to be sources of high nitrogen content.  Leaves and twigs  are a couple of  brown carbon sources.  Grass clippings, lettuce leaves, and weeds are some of the green nitrogen sources.  An ideal balance for leaves would be 25 parts of leaves to 1 part of green materials.  Nitrogen is needed to decompose high carbon items.  If you use raw wood products in the garden which have not gone through the process of decomposition, such materials will leach the nitrogen from the soil while generating heat from the process of decomposition.  This is why you often see funky yellow mold growing on hardwood mulches in flower beds.  This decomposition process stunts plants by stealing their nitrogen and promotes diseases because of the heat which is being generated.  "Temperature and moisture make a disease thrive" - you may hear that again if you keep reading this column. Once a material has finished the decomposition process, it is beneficial.

    Now to the mechanics.  Place layers of leaves and green material in your bay to a depth of two to four feet, using the 25 carbon to 1 nitrogen theory.  You may want to add some compost enhancing bacteria such as Espoma Bio-Activator to the pile to ensure needed micro-organisms needed to make this process happen. (If you use too much green nitrogen material you will have a smelly anaerobic reaction which would not make good compost because of "bad critters".  This is why piles of pure grass clippings smell bad.)  Unless you plan to use this compost for acid loving plants, a handful of lime occasionally helps sweeten the pile.  Leave the pile with a recess in the center to act as a catch basin for water and rainfall.  You must keep the pile well watered. Stir or "turn" the pile every 3 or 4 weeks to make sure everything has a shot at this heated process which will occur as you compost.  If the pile is working properly the level will noticeably decrease in the first month and the temperature should reach approximately 160 degrees.  This high temperature should sterilize the weed seeds, though this subject could trigger a lively conversation at your next social event, should you choose to bring the subject up.  You may add more materials to this pile to keep the process going.  Eventually you will probably wind up with a finished pile and a working pile.

    The end product should look like rich soil and can be incorporated into flower beds, used for planting, and even top dressed lightly across lawns.  You will be building a strong soil.  One of my favorite stories is about a friend who really got into composting, checking its progress daily.  One day she said, "You know something.  If you had told me 20 years ago that the most exciting  in my life would be my compost pile, I would have told you that you were nuts!"