[Manteiga]

Dear All.
I filled up a builders bag full of leaves last autumn. One of those 1m³ ones that they deliver sand etc in. Anyway, tonight I emptied it out into smaller bags to transfer the whole thing up to the allotment. The leaves are starting to decompose, but it's far from 'soil'. I was planning on adding a few inches of soil on top, and then planting courgettes and butternut squash in it. Is this a good or a bad idea? Will the plants be able to grow in un-decomposed leaf mould?

[compostqueen]

Courgettes and squashes are greedy plants and need rich soil, enriched with manure for example.  Leaf mould is relatively low in nutrients.  Also the leaves will slump as they decompose so you will find your pile of leaves will diminish quite quickly as the weather picks up. You could add bulky material such as manure, and do as you say and top the bag off with some garden soil and some home made compost from your bin, if you have one

I have grown courgettes, squashes and all manner of veg in builders rubble sacks. I have garlic in two of them at the moment. Mine are filled with the contents of mucking out from the hen house, topped off with home compost

[solway cropper]

Leaf mould is made by fungal action and it takes at least a year and preferably two to get decent stuff. As compostqueen says, they settle a lot so if you start with a pile 6 foot high you might end up with 18 inches of leaf mould. That's the most annoying aspect of gardening: things happen when they want to not when you want them to.

If you have a compost heap as well that's a great place to grow courgettes and squashes.

[compostqueen]

I like to see a dalek with a courgette growing out of the top but you do find it sinks lower and lower unless you firm it down really well to start with, and even then you can't guarantee that it won't have slid out of sight by morning 

[dalemellor]

best way I've found with courgettes is as per the Dr hessayon book. dig at least a foot square hole. fill with muck or compost and top with soil then plant on top. puts the good stuff where needed.

[gremlin]

Dig it into the soil.  It will help moisture retention but I doubt you could grow anything only using dead leaves, except mushrooms.

I have sacks of leaves kept on purpose from last autumn and the plan is to add it to the compost bin as I build it layer by layer.    50% green stuff like lawn clipping, and 50% brown stuff like leaves. It'll all have rotted by the Autumn and will be dug in.

[Manteiga]

Thanks for the advice folks. Looks like I am running out of space on my plot already (been going a bit crazy with the seeds this week), is there anything I can plant in the bag that won't mind sitting in about 4-5 inches of soil and is happy for the ground to literally sink underneath it. Preferably that will also hang over the side of the bag (it's not a good looking thing).

[Kirpi]

Can the bags of leaves you now have just be left tied up for another year or so to really rot down? They don't need air to decompose like compost does.

[bigben]

I am with Gremlin on this one - I have 3 daleks and a builders bag of leaves gathered in the autumn. I tend to chuck leaves in as browns to mix with my grass and hedge clippings.

Dig holes where you want to plant  and mix the soil you remove with compost, leaves, chicken pellets, half rotted kitchen waste then use that to enrich where you plant your courgettes/squash.

[compostqueen]

I keep my leaves separate to all other compostibles as I want just leafmould. I do this in a wire cage or builders bag but they can be put in black plastic sacks with a bit of added garden soil and a few holes poked in. These can be stashed out of sight for a year or two

How far up the bag does the "compost" reach. It won't grow much if there's hardly any in the bag. If there's a goodly amount you could do courgettes, you'd get three in. Is there any chance of getting some manure in? You could bung manure in the bag before the soil or final layer of compost. Strawbs, French dwarf beans, courgettes spring to mind