Leaves are being hauled away by the truckload here where I live, and I wonder if people realize the value of what they are throwing into the gutter. Leaf mold is a choice product for mulching perennial gardens to help protect the soil through the winter.
Surprisingly, very few gardeners in the US know about this sweet-smelling, cocoa brown, moisture-retentive mulch. The reason for this is probably because to have it you have to make it. Leaf mold is nothing more than partially decomposed leaves that are somewhere between shredded leaves and humus.
One of the best things about leaf mold is its capacity to hold water, up to 500% of its own weight. As with all mulch, leaf mold helps retain moisture by preventing evaporation and reduces runoff during heavy rainstorms. In the heat of summer it helps keep the root zone cool.
While freshly fallen leaves are slightly acidic, as they break down they become neutral helping to moderate the soil. After a few years of using leaf mold, the condition of your soil will improve in ways expected from using composted material. Your soil will retain moisture and the texture will lighten and feel friable and crumbly. The beneficial soil bacteria will be abundantly happy. Though leaves are not high in nitrogen, the deep roots of the tree mine many beneficial trace minerals and nutrients that your garden will benefit from.
Leaf Pile to Leaf Mold
Unlike conventional compost, making leaf mold is a cold composting process. Although a leaf pile has been known to heat up, decomposition is primarily done by fungi and is a much slower process. Rate of decomposition depends on four key factors.
The most obvious is the type of leaves you have in your pile. Oak leaves for instance have a high lignin content and thus take longer to break down. Combining different kinds of leaves will help speed the process along.
How moist your leaf pile is would be another contributing factor. An unattended pile could take as much as three years to breakdown. By keeping the pile moist and covered you could cut that time to one year.
Is Shredding Worth the Effort?
Of course the easiest way to compost leaves is just to rake them up into a great big pile and let them sit for two or three years. But then the next year you have the same and before you know it you have three piles of leaves each composting and taking up space. If you shred the leaves the decomposition works faster because the fungi have more surface to work on and plus shredded leaves take up much less space, don’t compact as easily thus allowing moisture and air into the pile.
You can shred your leaves by running a mower over the top of them or running them through a shredder.
Building a Leaf Pile
You don’t expect this to be rocket science, and it’s not. But a leaf pile needs to be of fairly good size for it to heat up and retain moisture. A diameter of about 6 feet and 5 feet high should work fine. If you’re using your neighbors bagged leaves then it will take about 25 bags to do the job.
You can also pile the leaves in a bin made of wire or wood. Make sure and moisten the pile as you go and cover with a tarp. The tarp acts to hold in moisture and makes sure all your hard work doesn’t get blown over into your neighbors yard, (not a good way to make friends by the way).
Uses For Your Leaf Mold
The leaf mold is ready to use once it is loose and crumbly. It can be used anywhere you need moisture retention or to just add organic matter to the soil. Because of its moisture retention qualities, keep well away from root crowns.
Composted leaves will not rob the soil of nitrogen and can be used in pots and to improve sandy or clay soils.
Leaves are still free and abundant this time of year. Get started making your own high-quality, organic soil ammendment.
Success,
Christy
I always say, follow your heart. 
