In its place is a bag of black gold—a crumbly leaf mold with a delightful earthy scent ready to go into the garden as mulch. You collect a pile of leaves—as you’re probably already doing when you’re raking—but instead of throwing them into a trash dump, you save the leaf bags which will turn into an earthy hummus in … They arrive by the truckload in plastic bags from my neighbors and from a local landscaper. Since I have only a few deciduous trees in my yard, I import leaves into my garden each November. Add water if dry and wait . Plastics are also made from non renewable resources. It’s simply shredded leaves. If you don’t want to use plastic bags gather the leaves, throw a few shovelfuls of soil on top and cover with an old holey tarp. What is Leaf Mold? Saving leaves in bags. Therefore, unlike commercial garden compost, it saves money so anybody can make it and use it in the garden. Leaf mold is basically free and very easy to make. Take a black bin liner and punch a few holes in the side and bottom. The brown bags would work fine but the bags would breakdown by the time you were ready to collect the leaf mold. Place all the leaves in a large black plastic bag, tie the bag closed, puncture it all over and store it for about a year. Plastic bags might not get enough air flow so I would not recommend keeping the leaves in those long term. Plastic Molding With Grocery Bags: I hated seeing all these perfectly good plastic bags go to waste, so I decided I would figure out a way to reuse them. If the leaves are fresh and shredded, just moisten them, close up the bag, and poke a few holes in the sides of the bag. The only thing you need to provide is a black garbage bag to collect the leaves. Inside plastic bags there will be too little air to aid the bacteria in converting those leaves and maybe too much moisture or maybe too little. The process is slow - a couple or three years - but the product - leaf mold is a deluxe mulch well worth the wait. Another easy, yet very effective way to make leaf mold, is to pack the leaves into black trash bags. And that’s how easy it is to make a free soil amendment — just make sure you give the pile enough time to break down! The best way to make leaf mold is to separate it. In this instructable I'll show you how to use old bags to mold plastic parts. Leaf mold is very common in Britain. Leaf mold is a form of compost produced by the breakdown of shrub and tree leaves.. Due to the slow decaying nature of their lignin (cellulose) content, autumn leaves break down far more slowly than most other compost ingredients, and therefore should be composted separately. Leaf mold is surprisingly easy to make. In big plastic bags. a year or two until ready. Making Leaf Mold. When almost full, sprinkle with water, shake and tie. 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