Leafmold time is upon us again

Started building a bin for it

 

Hi Zigs,

I'm new to this, so if what I say is gibberish/nonsense tell me ( don't hold back now Lol ).

We have a lot of cherry tree leaves come over our garden from next door, could I put these in a black bin liner ( if i put holes in it to let it breathe ) to compost (?) them down to use next year.

Thanks Ant

 

yep fill up a black bin liner and make some holes in then leave behind a shed or out the way for a year and jobs a good un

 

Thanks Bigbore, I'm new to this side of things, any help much appreciated

 

Yep, sprinkle some yeast in with them, helps if you can run them thru a mower/shreader first too

For reference, leaves break down by a fungal process as opposed to the bacterial process in a compost heap, which is why they'm better rotted down separately

Made leafmold in 2 months using yeast a few years back, but I did keep the bucket in the warm

 

@bigbore I find it helps if the leaves are damp so you may want to add some water to the bag. I try and collect them when they are damp as they are easier to control although heavier.
@Zigs

You reminded me of this http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/oakleaf.asp what did yours taste like?

 

Had to leave it a year for the tannin to subside

 

Some of my compost bins are slow to say the least could I put some yeast in those too? Would it speed it up?
I think the reason for the being so slow is my fault I put a lot of straw out of the hen coops in them & hadn't thought to put grass etc in between

 

The nitrogen from the hen poo should be activating it Beckie Try turning it over to get a bit of air in it

 

Finished making the bin yesterday

 

@Beckie76

The contents could be too dry. When you turn the contents over then you will see how dry it is. If dry a couple of buckets full of water should sort it out.

 

Just so there's no confusion

 

Ive added some grass clipping to mine this summer to give it some oomph.
Even tried growing some potatoes in it earlier but only got a dinner plate full of Anya pots as its in a v dark shadded corner under ****** sycamore trees. It would have worked a treet in the full sun I think.
The curse of these trees combined with my beech hedging provides a lot of leaf mold .

 

thats a nice addition zigs, and plenty of free leaves, thats what we like :D

 

Special offer for this month only, free leaves with every tree