RE: fall clean up

Hi Claire,
 I am just back from 2 weeks in Arizona and faced with a large wind drift of
leaves that accumulated while I was gone. I probably won't have to go to the
park after all :).  Yes I do compost my yard debris (except woody stuff as I
mentioned) during the summer, but a compost heap needs a certain amount of
carbon, which I must obtain from leaves.
 I save all the leaves I can get during the fall and add them to my compost
heap gradually along with the green stuff the rest of the year.  I have
never used an exact formula - just "brown stuff and green stuff" seems to
work for me.  The consensus seems to be that oak leaves are indeed acidic
and the usual soil pH around here is about 5.5 - 5.8 .   I can keep my
garden soil pH at about 6.3 - 6.5 by using my homemade compost - but I don't
have oak leaves in my compost either. ( Another no-no is walnut leaves.)
The park where I go to rake has a nice assortment of trees and evidently so
do my neighbors whose leaves now reside in my garden.  but that's OK - I've
had 2 weeks of rest, so I can rake up a storm!

Marilyn Dube'
Natural Designs Nursery
Portland, Oregon


-----Original Message-----
From:	owner-perennials@mallorn.com [owner-perennials@mallorn.com] On
Behalf Of ECPep@aol.com
Sent:	Saturday, October 27, 2001 5:52 PM
To:	perennials@mallorn.com
Subject:	Re: fall clean up

In a message dated 10/27/01 12:46:53 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
mygarden@easystreet.com writes:

<< By the way, people around here seem to think that oak leaves are way too
 acidic to make good compost.  Does anyone agree with that?  I think the pH
 could be adjusted with dolomite lime - yes?  I have to go to a nearby city
 park and rake leaves to bring home for my compost heap!  I don't get enough
 leaves from my 2 deciduous trees (magnolia & flowering cherry) to make
great
 compost. >>

Go to the park!  Yikes Marilyn,you have energy to spare.  Can you not use
garbris as it collects over the summer. If you do not have a shredder you
can
pile it up and whack it to peices with a machete.  My husband can do this
but
I have stopped him when grandson it around.  Something about it is just,
well
you know.............


Claire Peplowski
NYS z4

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