Guest Post: Leaf Mulching with Jason Bump

From Edgewater resident and member of the Edgewater Sustainability Board Matt Pagano:

After spending a few years trying to compost on his own with limited success, Jason applied for and was accepted to a master composting program offered by Denver Urban Gardens (“DUG”).  It was here that Jason learned about the balance of carbon and nitrogen which is essential to properly compost organic matter and mimic the natural makeup and life cycle of soils.

Jason collects as many as 350 bags of leaves each year from various sources.  Leaves can be crumbled in any number of ways: using your hands, using your feet, using a lawn mower or even using a wood chipper.  Mulched leaves can be used to cover your lawn or gardens.  They make a great addition to an existing backyard compost pile.  If you are interested in starting your own backyard compost pile, then a cubic yard of evenly mixed grass clippings and leaves mixed with some water is a great compost recipe (i.e. 3 foot by 3 foot pile).

There are a lot of benefits to mulching your own leaves such as enriching soils in garden beds or lawns.  Healthier soils and lawns require less water, which ultimately saves money.  Using your leaves in these ways also keeps them out of landfills where they would decompose in a way that produces more methane gas.  In addition to saving money and improving the health of soils and lawns, leaves provide an excellent source of food for worms.  The worms will venture up to the surface to consume the leaves, aerating soils as they navigate through them.  In doing so, they also leave behind worm castings to distribute nutrients throughout the soils below the surface.

For those who are interested in learning more about mulching or composting their leaves, starting a backyard compost pile or applying mulched leaves to gardens and lawns are great ways to begin learning about the myriad benefits of the leaves falling all around us this time of year.

The Edgewater Sustainability Board has a list of best practices for keeping leaves out of the landfill this year. This includes Leaf Drop Off Locations at various locations in the area, including the Jefferson Community Garden and Sprout City Farm. Please see the City of Edgewater website for more information.

Joel Newton

Joel has been a resident of Edgewater, Colorado with his family since 2012. He is the Executive Director of local education nonprofit Edgewater Collective and Editor of the Edgewater Echo.