I raked up 8 garbage bags full of leaves today. Last year I had about that many and after putting a few holes in the bags, I left them to decompose over the winter. They were probably half way there by spring. Is there anything I could add to the bags that would speed up the process? I am just not into doing a compost pile, and quite honestly I like the fact that these bags, when finished, can easily be toted to where I need them. Hoping someone can suggest an addition to the bags that will help the process along.

Thank you!

Compost in a bag - I like it. Since leaves are primarily carbon it stands to reason that you'd need to add the missing ingredients to finish the equation - water, nitrogen and oxygen - oh and some good old fashion microbe rich dirt for a jump start. That'd be what I'd start with anyway.

I have leaves in bags each year too, as well as in trash cans. At the end of a year they would be pretty much transformed into leaf mould. For several years I just let nature take its course, but this year decided to help a little, and put coffee grounds in with them. We'll see...

OK, so poking holes in the bag would allow oxygen and water to get in. What do you think of putting rabbit pellets (meaning rabbit food) in with the leaves. That would be a nitrogen source, right? Or maybe even the ACTUAL rabbit pellets?

For me, this was such an easy way to turn my leaves into something good for my garden. I'm just impatient now because last year my bags were almost ready to use at this point, and here I am just getting started. Even though they sat out all winter, they haven't decomposed at all. Plus the year before I ran over all of them with a lawnmower before bagging them up. The more I think about it, looks like I may just have to cool my heels and let nature do it's thing!

Thanks for the suggestions...glad to know I'm not the only one who thinks this is a convenient way to handle the leaves!

Are these plastic bags or the paper trash bags?
Actually a compost pile would be less obtrusive than these bags piled up, but you could simply use you rotary mower and make mulch of the leaves and spread them on your beds.

A couple shovelfulls of dirt, a couple quarts of water, a shovelful of rabbit droppings, and DON'T tie the bag shut. Leave it open for air. Keep them OUT of the sun or the summer sun will cause the plastic to disintegrate. Put the bags in a spot where you won't need to move them til they are done....

I made the mistake of NOT opening some bags and they were a smelly, slimy, mess. Holes in the sides are okay too, but opening the top gets LOTS of air inside.

I also tried moving bags from a sunny spot and had the slimy mess wind up on me as the bags split open...

I think the only way to speed things up drastically is to compost the stuff the way "The Captain" does...stir, mix, add, grind, tea, molasses, tlc....

Or you can do what I do, a giant leaf pile that I toss dirt onto now and again, and water it now and again, and just leave it sit for a year as I add more and more leaves onto it...

Molasses. Along with the nitrogen sources recommended by the others, water down the thing with some diluted molasses, or flat beer or non-diet soda... The sugars help boost the bacteria and get them going.

Thanks, Brennewoman....just the suggestion I was hoping to get! I appreciate everyone else's thoughts as well!

Add whirled-in-a-blender kitchen scraps? That'd give you the water you need, as well as the greens, and whirling scraps in the blender means you get great mixability. And if you don't tie the bags shut, you have the option of emptying them, stirring the leaves with a little something extra as it becomes available, and rebagging.

Grass clippings are probably not in abundance right now, and the stuff currently getting raked out of lawns is all brown. What about urine? ;\ Make the Captain proud! ;-)

Thought I would share a similar situation.

Each spring our first lawnmowing up at the cabin is usually not done in a timely manner (too busy until school actually gets out). So the grass is usually very long and mixed with lots of leaves from the previous fall that blew in from our neighbors who don't rake. I set the blades low and put on the mulching bag. What I get is a well-mixed batch of choppped leaves and green grass, about 50% of each.

I bring it home from the lake in black plastic garbage bags (cheap ones, you don't gain anything from using the real heavy duty ones in this case), poke a few holes in the sides and open the bags up and put the bags in rows out behind the southern side of the barn (I realize not everyone has the luxury of space to put bags and no neighbors to complain!). I burrow down into each bag and add a shovel full of dirt or compost.

That's it. I never mix it, although I'm sure it would help. I let the rain keep it moist (most years it does). Four months later (October) it's real close to usable compost. I usually put it into a pile and let it sit over the winter. By the next spring it's pretty much ready to go.

Decent compost with minimal effort. Plus, it puts me in a better frame of mind to do the dreaded yard cleanup. If I look at it like I am harvesting a resource for my garden, it makes it a lot more fun!