leaves, leaves, & more leaves

hi everyone
where i live,im surrounded by trees, its a pity to let all the leaves go to waste,my question is, whats the way to make leafmould, i have made a frame with chicken mesh around it,that is full already, is there a better way to rot them down quicker
many thanks in advance
arwyn

 

Hi Cymro, unlike a compost heap/bin, leaf mould is made by compressing the leaves in the container, you don't need lots of air to rot it down. You could try filling empty compost sacks with wet leaves and pack them in as tight as you can. In the past when I had access to lots of leaves, I used palettes as in a wooden compost bin but with a wooden lid that was slightly smaller so it fitted inside the wooden frame which was then weighted down with bricks. I managed to get a lot of leaf mould this way.

 

I follow a suggestion by Monty Don to compost all material by putting it in a black bin bag. Watering it and punching a few holes in it. I generally keep leaves seperate as they take much longer. The great thing about bin bags is that you can pile them up behind a shed or in a corner, and there is no limit to how many you can have.

I always add new bags at one end. I check them once a year, using the stuff that is ready, and moving all the rest up the line. I find it a very successful method. Once you have got the production line going it doesn't really matter how long it takes to compost.

 

I've tried the black bin-bag method in the past but found that it didn't work too well. I think the reason probably was that I had the leaves too dry when they went in and then stored them in an area between the fence and the oil tank where they they were too sheltered from the rain, and so were kept too dry. Anyway, I switched to using a wire netting frame, and this year have put up a large one next to the compost heap in an attempt not to waste anything.

 

Yes David the leaves need to have some moisture in them when they are bagged up water them if necessary, dry leaves will not rot down.

 

I too had soooo many leaves this year, it's a crime I have no room for a proper leaf compost heap. The retreat house I used to work at had the most wonderful leaf compost, a real credit to the full time gardener there. Good luck cymro.

 

Tread the leaves down in your chicken wire frame to compress.

Must admit Ive never botherd with leaf mould and usually just pile up leaves and burn! Not eco freindly but practical.

 

You can use them in the compost bin. Mix them up with lawn mowings and kitchen waste such as peelings etc. it will stop those from going sloppy and horrible because the leaves add carbon to the heap. I usually have to add newspaper or cardboard to rot those things down but would rather use leaves to do the job. iIn the past I have thrown the leaves in the corner against some wire but by the time they have become leaf mould the worms have pinched the lot.

 

I've bagged all mine in black bin liners. Am thinking of just adding some soil and planting some spuds straight in the sacs.
Don't know if it'll work though, anyone tried anything similar?

 

Photatoes will grow very well in sacks, Ive recycled spent growbags before by pouring the old compost into larger sacks and planting spuds.
Remember that the volume of leaf mould produced per sack will be comparatvly little though so youll probably have to combine bags.

You might also need to use slightly more rigid plastic sacks ive always used those that bark comes in with the top folded over and a couple of holes pierced in the biottom.

 

Pro Gard,

Photatoes :D what are they a hybrid or something :D

 

I compost loads of leaves in the compost bins and others in the black bags with holes prodded through. Both methods are good but if you have hundreds of trees, you can't always keep up with it and another load has to go into the green wheelie bin for the Council to recycle.