Move Over Summer, It’s Fall Y’all

 

I have to admit, I feel a bit of denial that summer is over. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE fall- weather nice for hanging outside and camping, beautiful leaves, my birthday…but I haven’t quite wrapped my head around the fact that the swimming and popsicle days are over.

Regardless of my mental space, summer is wrapping up and that means it’s time to make room in your compost bin for the onslaught of leaves coming our way. In my opinion, fall is an excellent time to harvest your finished compost. Place the finished compost on your beds you hope to plant in the spring or around trees you are planting this fall.

With all the finished stuff moved out, you will have more room for leaves. Another tip I use is to create a few wire leaf bins to hold the leaves over winter. By spring the leaf pile will have reduced in half and you can condense the bins to make room for spring plants.

My wire leaf bin in spring

Building a Wire Leaf Bin

1.      First, measure about 10 feet of wire fencing. I like welded wire fencing, but you can use chicken wire or anything else you have laying around.

2.      Roll the fence into a cylinder with at least 3 feet circumference.

3.      Secure the ends with zip ties, wire, or something similar.

4.      Depending on your fencing, you may need some stakes to keep the shape of the bin. My welded wire fencing does not need this support.

And that’s it. You can fit about 4-5 leave bags full in these bins and it is shocking how fast they decompose and settle .

Well, just thinking about leaves has me a little more ready to accept the changing seasons.

Happy fall, y’all.