[Elizabeth]

If you have too many brown leaves to mix in with your greens, then you should definitely make some leaf mold. Sounds grody, but it's really good for your plants. If you leave them whole it will take 2 years to mature, if you shred them, it will take 1 year. There are lots of ways to do it, in piles, in bins or some people bag them up, poke holes in the bag and stick under a tree for a couple of years. The hardest part of the whole process is wetting them really well down the first time. Once they start rotting a bit it's easier to keep them moist.