On Vancouver Island where I studied Horticulture, leaf mold is made in bounty and offered to the citizens for free. The winters are very wet and the leaves plentiful. People rake or blow their leaves to the curb; the city comes around scoops them all up and composts them over the winter. When they become available to the public in the late spring the leaves are partially composed and very smelly. A common smell that some learn to enjoy, is a build of anaerobic bacteria. The leaves are in such large numbers that the piles heat up and decompose even though it’s mostly carbon.
I wanted to try creating leaf mold in Alberta. The process takes time, anywhere from six months to a year for decomposition. To make leaf mold, create a pen from wood (pallets) or wire fencing (livestock) at least 3’ by 3’. At DNA we made our first leaf compost pile in 2023, collecting leaves with our large mower, mulching them a bit and then adding them to a wire bin we staked down with rebar. We then added the leaves layer by layer, adding water to leaves and thoroughly mixing them with each layer.
The idea is to create as mulch for your garden beds that will help retain moisture, improve soil structure, and invite good microbiota and mycorrhizae to hang out with your plants. This will all make nutrients more available to your plants and help them prosper!
I learnt some things last year that I would change. What I didn’t do and should have, was add a tarp around the whole pen to keep in any moisture and warmth. We went and took a big scoop of leaves right from the center mid-winter to feed to the worms, that greatly decreased the piles’ ability to hold heat or moisture and therefore decompose. Next year I will make a pile specifically for the worms. The weather being so cold here in AB I knew the decomposition over winter would greatly decrease. I hoped that with the ups and downs of AB weather there might be enough snow melt and periodic warmth to do some decomposition. It’s a long shot but we’ll let you know if it goes any better this year.