If leaves gather again when raking, you do not have to dispose of them. You can also use it to make valuable fertilizer. You don't even need much for that.
Composted foliage works well as a fertilizer: Autumn is in itself a beautiful season, especially because of the colorful foliage that hangs so picturesquely on the trees every year. But of course it doesn't stay there forever. When the time comes, you have to rake up the leaves and dispose of them. But where to put all the foliage? After all, it cannot be disposed of in the organic bin because there is simply not enough space for it. In theory, of course, you could also collect the leaves and take them to the garden rubbish bin. You can also save yourself the way there and take advantage of the foliage, provided you have your own garden. Part of the foliage can be composted, i.e. converted into fertilizer, which you can then use for your garden.The right mix is important
Of course, you should not put all of the foliage in the garden on the compost. The percentage of leaves should not exceed 20 percent. The trees extract most of the nutrients from the leaves, so that when they fall off, they contain very little of them. However, nutrients should be in the compost as much as possible, because only then is it suitable as a fertilizer. Therefore, you have to mix in enough other garden and kitchen waste so that an ideal mixture is created. For example, you can incorporate grass clippings and shredded garden waste from hedges and bushes.
Foliage is not the same, especially when it is supposed to land on the compost. Because the rotting of the individual leaf types progresses at very different speeds, so that you cannot mix them indiscriminately. The leaves of flowering shrubs, fruit trees, maple, linden, hornbeam, mountain ash and ash rot, e.g. very quickly, so that you can use the compost in the garden as early as next spring. Compost, on the other hand, matures relatively slowly with the leaves of oak, beech, chestnut, poplar and plane tree.
Important:
If you know that a wood is affected by a disease, you should not use its leaves for compost at all. You absolutely have to dispose of this.
How to make fertilizer from leaves
To get good compost from leaves, you don't even have to have a compost heap on your property. All you need is a couple of conventional bags for garden waste and a little compost accelerator.
And this is how it is done:
Fill the dry leaves into the sacks and add some of the compost accelerator. Bacteria and fungi are contained in this product, which should ensure that the leaves rot quickly. The addition of horn or stone flour is also recommended, as this enriches the later compost with important nitrogen and trace elements. You can also fill other clippings into the sacks. Then close them well. Now all you have to do is make a few holes in the sacks to ensure good ventilation. As a rule, thanks to this method, good garden soil will be available to you after about eight to twelve weeks, i.e. just in time for the new gardening season.
