We have a giant oak tree that produces an incredible number of leaves for just one tree. I've tried composting them in the past, but never have enough "greens" to balance them out. I live in a townhouse, with the entire backyard devoted to garden, so the amount of grass clippings from my tiny front yard is negligible. I've never been able to get the "hot" compost that you are supposed to get if you balance the browns and greens correctly. They do break down eventually, but even after a year, they still look a lot like leaves.

This year I decided to try something new. I got some alfalfa pellets (horse food - you get this at the feed store, not the garden center) and lots of used coffee grounds (free) from starbucks. I wetted down the alfalfa pellets, which basically turn back into meal in the water, and mixed them with the coffee grounds. Then I got a leaf shredder, something I was really wishing I had last fall. I shredded all the leaves I had saved from last fall. After sitting for months, they were not decomposed at all. Then I just layered the shredded leaves with the alfalfa/coffee mixture, using my imagination to get the ratio right. That is, I did some research and determined that I should have about two parts alfalfa/coffee to one part leaves, but I think that is by weight. Obviously, even shredded, the leaves weigh a lot less than the other two, and I couldn't find any recommendations by volume, so in the end, I just decided to wing it.

That was two days ago. The temperature has been cold and rainy ever since - mid 30's. I didn't check on it yesterday. Today I went outside, my hands were cold. I stuck one into the compost pile - hot! Steaming hot! I went to get the candy thermometer and measured it. 120 degrees!

I have always heard of other people's compost piles getting hot, just never got mine to work like that. I'm still so amazed, I just had to tell someone about it. I've been reading this site for a while now, and getting a lot of good information here, so I thought this could be a good occasion to make my first post.

I know many of you have been doing this for years, but it's so exciting to see it happen for the first time!