Mulched leaves as compost

would putting inches of mulched leaves on the beds each Fall come close to being similar to compost?

Doug says - one of the best gardeners I know taught me this trick many years ago. I've done it every year. I simply mow the leaves over onto the perennial beds and walk away. They're all chopped up, resist packing down and by July, the worms have pretty much shredded them all. The only trouble you'll have is if you don't chop them up and they're maple or other leaf that packs down tight. Avoid the packing-down-tight syndrome and this is easy compost and easy gardening. :-)