 In autumn, the falling leaves of trees worth a lot for your garden. The leaves of most trees contain twice as many minerals as manure. For example, the mineral content of a sugar maple leaf is over five percent, while even common pine needles have 2.5 percent of their weight in calcium, magnesium, nitrogen and phosphorus, plus other trace elements. Since most trees are deep-rooted, they absorb minerals and a good portion of these minerals go into the leaves. Actually, these multi-colored gifts from above are most valuable for the large amounts of fibrous organic matter they supply. Their humus-building qualities mean improved structure for all soil types. They aerate heavy clay soils, prevent sandy soils from drying out too fast, soak up rain and check evaporation.
Some people complain to us that they have no luck composting leaves. We make a pile of our leaves, these people say, but they never break down. That is indeed a common complaint.
 There are two things you can do that will guarantee success in composing leaves:
1. Add extra nitrogen to your leaf compost. Nitrogen is the one factor that starts compost heap heating up. Manure is the best nitrogen supplement, and a mixture of five parts leaves to one part manure will certainly break down quickly. If you do not have manure use nitrogen supplements.
2. The second thing to do to guarantee leaf-composting success is to grind or shred your leaves.
 A compost pile can be made in almost any size, but most people like to make rectangular-shaped piles, because they are easier to handle.
It is a good idea to put the material in the heap of layers.
- Start with a 6 inch layer of leaves, either shredded or not shredded.
- Then add a two-inch layer of other organic material that is higher in nitrogen than leaves. Try to pick something from this list: manure, garbage, green weeds or old vines from your garden. You can add low-nitrogen things like sawdust, straw, ground corn cobs or dry weeds.
Keep the heap moist, but not soggy. Turn the heap every three weeks or sooner if you feel up to it. If you can turn it three or four times, before late spring comes, you will have fine compost ready for spring planting use.
You can make compost out of leaves in as short of time as fourteen days by doing these things:
1. Shred or grind the leaves.
2. Mix four parts ground leaves with one part manure or other material liberally supplemented with nitrogen.
3. Turn the heap every three days. Turning a heap made of shredded leaves is not difficult because the compost is light and fluffy.
One more tip: Why not experiment with covering your heap with a plastic sheet? It will keep the warmth in, and prevent the heap from getting too wet or too dry.
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