[1st time veg grower]

Tomorrow I'm going to be given several bags of well rotted leafmould from the verger at church. Question is, though I know its meant to be good stuff to have and he was keen to give it away, what do I use it for?!!

I have one raised veg bed still to fill, which I was intending to fill with compost, could I use it for that? Or is it better to use around the garden say as a mulch on flower beds or around my fruit bushes? Everything I read seems to say something different!

My soil is very poor (clay), hence the raised beds, if that helps.

Thanks, don't want to waste it!

[slowcompost]

If its well rotted it should be ok to dig in to soil but theres not  alot of goodness in leaf compost and it takes an awful long time time to rot down.

[1st time veg grower]

It is well rotted down, has been there for several years and no-ones touched it. He just vaccums up the leaves and adds it to a massive heap to keep the churchyard and garden tidy.

So it's better as a mulch?

[Swing Swang]

From the gardenorganic website:

http://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/factsheets/making_leafmould.php

'Young' leafmould
1 or 2 years old, depending on tree species. Leaves beginning to break up; easily crumbled in the hand.
Mulch around shrubs, herbaceous, trees, vegetables
Dig in as soil improver for sowing and planting
Autumn top dressing for lawns
Winter cover for bare soil

Well rotted leafmould
2 years old in most cases. Dark brown crumbly material, with no real trace of original leaves visible.
Use as for 'young' leafmould above
Seed sowing mix - Use leafmould on its own, or mixed with equal parts sharp sand and garden compost
Potting compost - Mix equal parts well rotted leafmould, sharp sand, loam and garden compost

[1st time veg grower]

Thanks swing swang, that's really helpful, as is the link. As far as I know its older than 1 or 2 years old, as he has told me he went to the very bottom of the heap to dig it out for me, and the heap has been there for many years.

Didn't realise you could use it for potting stuff up if you mixed it!

[Ivor Backache]

I think Swing Swang has summarised the answer very well. I collected last autumn 60 full bin bags of leaves which have condensed into two 'ton' bags (used for bulk delivery of sand and  gravel) and which will rot down even more. Leaf mould is made non aerobically. There is no nutritional value but it is an excellent bulking additive for soil. I use it on my root bed for carrots and parsnips. It is a high carbon content additive and if you use it all in one place you may suffer nitrogen starvation in the soil. The pale green leaves will warn you so be ready to add a high nitrogen feed similar to that used on lawns.

[chriscross1966]

It's good for clay, helps add humus....well rotted and mixed with sand it makes an excellent seed compost.... if you've got a load of this years leaves then urine helps it break down, as do grass clippings (if no weedkiller used)....

Also useful if all the compost you can make at home is kitchen waste, layer it in the dalek with that to add some bulk....

chrisc

[compostqueen]

I have a leafmould cage on my plot and although it takes an age for them to rot down it's worth it and they do make a good addition for raised beds when sowing carrots.  It makes good potting mix ingredient as it's weed free.  I mixed mine with homemade rotted down compost and some sharp sand.  Best carrots I ever grew 

[1st time veg grower]

Well in reality the bags turned out to be a mixture of the two - young and old leaf mould -so I have used it as a mulch around my flower beds instead of on my veg patch, as I couldn't be bothered to seperate it or sieve it. Flower beds look great now with all the bulbs coming through and it forced me to do a spot of weeding too!

Thanks for the advice - verger says there's plenty where this came from so will possibly use it for other things later on.