How to Create Decomposing Mold

Composting is not only a pesticide-free, organic way to fertilize your garden, it reduces waste in your home. You can throw everything from egg shells to banana peels in your compost pile to create free, nutrient-rich nourishment for all of your plants. Decomposing mold, also called leaf mold, is essential to the mulching or composting process. Without decomposition, organic items don't break down into nourishing soil. Creating this mold is relatively simple and in fact, it often occurs in nature without any human help at all.

Rake
Leaves
Large plastic bin
Wooden broom handle
Water

Instructions

- 1
  Rake up as many dry leaves as you can. If you don't have a backyard or many trees, offer to rake a friend's yard in exchange for keeping the leaves.
- 2
  Place as many leaves as will fit into a large plastic bin that has a lid. A clean industrial trash can works well, as does a large plastic storage bin.
- 3
  Stir and push the leaves around in the bin with a long, wooden broom handle. Crush and pulverize them into the smallest pieces you can. If the leaves are very dry, this should happen relatively quickly.
- 4
  Add 1 gallon of water to the leaves and stir until the leaves are all thoroughly wet.
- 5
  Snap the container lid into place and let the leaves sit for about four weeks. Open the container and stir the leaves each week to distribute the mold and heat evenly.

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