Looking for an Eco-Alternative for Fertilizer?
Turn your own yard leaves in the fall into fertilizer in the summer. Get started these season with these tips.
1. Gather the fallen leaves from your own yard or contact your municipality to find out where you can get fallen leaves from public pickup. You can even contact your local neighbors that gather and bag their own leaves to see if you can have access to their fallen, gathered leave throw away.
2. Shred the leaves with a lawn mower or a yard mulcher, and pile them up for a couple of months. It’s best to start this task right when the leaves begin to fall so they will have plenty of time to sit. Even leaving the leaves bagged inside of a plastic bag is a great way to get the heat the leaves needs as well. And it’s a bit more neater than the “piling-up” approach.
3. You will need to moisten the leaves regularly, do not soak them down though. They need just enough water to create moisture within themselves or within the bag.
4. Encourage the decomposition faster by adding s nitrogen source. This nitrogen source can be found in grass clippings or even out of your own kitchen with coffee grounds. A ration of about three to one of brown leaves and the nitrogen source will help balance out the necessary decomposition that is needed during the months the leaves sit.
5. Come spring, your homemade fertilizer will be ready for use in your potted plants and even in your garden preparations.
*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Anything made of metal can be recycled. Even if you do not see a return, always recycle all metal. There are endless possibilities to what metal can be made back into.
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