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Louisiana's Good Earth

© Kathryn Morse

It's fall. It's back-to-school time. I feel obligated to write something educational. But it's the end of summer and I am looking forward to falling leaves and putting them in my compost pile.

Yes, my compost pile. I like to take care of the environment and my compost pile is a small contribution to my lot while keeping some waste out of the landfill.

Right now the top of my compost pile is a mixture of watermelon and cantalope rinds, vegetable peelings, coffee grounds and filters and dryer lint. Well over half of a healthy compost pile needs to be grass clippings and leaves. That's why I'm looking forward to the fall of the pecan tree leaves in my back yard. Pecan leaves are great for compost because they decompose quickly.

In the upcoming weeks I may succumb to temptation and just mow the leaves like I did last year, rather than rake and compost. Dry pecan leaves can also be mowed over. The little tiny pieces fall into the grass making your yard clean of leaf debris. And, mowing is often easier than raking. And you perform two functions at once - get rid of leaves and leave your grass neatly mowed for winter.

Oak tree leaves are numerous in my front yard, but they are not suitable for compost. Their glossy, waxy leaves take 3 to 4 years to rot. I use only a very few of those in compost. Unfortunately you can't just mow them, either. The slippery leaves avoid the mower blades and are just blown into lines in your yard.

Across my street there are sycamore trees. Those leaves rot easily like pecan leaves. But they also blow in the wind. Last year I collected some that blew across the street for my compost pile. I found that I needed to weigh them down with something a little bulky and heavy or they would be caught up in the wind and end of just being leaves on the lawn. A morning's coffee grounds or a rotten tomato work just fine. And when you stir the compost you learn to make sure those flighty large leaves aren't left on top like children's paper airplanes waiting for an opportunity to be airborne.

This spring's compost supply was used in a planter with some Wal-Mart soil for petunias. They are dead now. Last week I went looking for seeds for zinnias to have a some fall flowers. There were no flower seeds left in my small town. I am making a mental note to buy zinnia seeds next spring to use in the late summer as the summer flowers fade into memory.

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