Fall is a terrific time for making compost, partly because leaves are a fantastic source of soil enriching nutrients. As you probably plan to remove those leaves from your lawn, recycling them into your compost pile is a win-win proposition.

Leaves need to break down in order to integrate with the other organic matter in your compost heap. Reducing them first can really accelerate the composting process. The difference in composting time between leaves that are dumped whole, and leaves that are well shredded are enormous. Reduce first this fall, and you can have usable compost in the spring!

Shredding the Leaves

The Sharktooth Impeller

There are number of ways to shred leaves. One of the most efficient is using a leaf collector like the DR Leaf and Lawn Vacuum. The DR Leaf and Lawn Vacuum will reduce the leaves you collect twice. The mower blade makes the first pass at them, then the semi-mulched leaves are drawn into the the Leaf Vac’s steel impeller where they are reduced again.

Best of all, those twice-reduced leaves are nicely gathered for you in the collector bin. There’s no awkward raking and bagging, or dragging an overladen tarp across your yard (in a backward-walking, butt-first posture that will keep your chiropractor’s business thriving!).

Just drive to your compost pile and dump. Come back in the spring and you’ll find that with just a little shovelwork to turn and mix the pile, you’ll have beautiful, rich compost to integrate into your garden beds. Your Leaf and Lawn Vac trailer will come in handy again.