[m1ckz]

do peas like a well munired soil please    thanx

[DD.]

They don't like a heavily manured soil, but like one rich in humus, so you're far better off adding things like leaf mould or stuff from your compost bin.

[savbo]

that's good DD, just put a few barrows of 2yo leaf mould on next year's beds!

[DD.]

Peas galore!

Dribble..............

[shoozie]

Thanks for that DD - I didn't know that 

[DD.]

I've just checked and John agrees.

http://www.allotment-garden.org/grow-your-own/vegetables/peas

Phew!

[Salmo]

Peas and broad beans usually use up the fertilizer from the previous crop. If you give them too much nitrogen, that includes manure, they grow tall and soft with all leaf and few peas.

[Daamoot]

Would it be adviseable to use this autumns fallen leaves on pea beds for next year or will they not have enough time to break down sufficiently?

[DD.]

They won't really have time to break down. See this from John's recent newsletter.

Leafmould

Leafmould is not compost. You won't hurry it by adding accelerators or nitrogen although chopping the leaves small with a leaf vacuum or shredder does make it rot faster. All you really need to do is to keep them from blowing away and keep them damp.

On a small scale, pop the leaves into a black sack with airholes in it. Water well, tie up the top and leave the bag out of the way for six months to a year or even two. Some leaves, like sycamore, take a long time to rot down.

[Trillium]

If you leave the leaves intact/whole, then they take longer to break down. Mostly, they like to mat up and I've had mats take 3 years to break down  Oak leaves take even longer.

If possible, first run a lawn mower over them to chop them up. If you have a bagger attachment, use it because it saves loads of work by not having to rake them up. Basically, I run the mower up and down the leaf-covered lawn and the mower basically vacuums up the leaves while it shreds them.  Dump where needed now and by spring, most will already have begun to decay. I've done this for quite a few years now and it works a treat.

[savbo]

We get road/pavement sweepings dumped at our site. Yes, they're full of crisp packets and rubbish, but you can go through the piles of good stuff and I've filled a m3 basket the past couple of years. By the following summer they're down to less than a 10th of that, but still gives me a couple of barrows. Last year I was ahead of myself so ended up putting the leaves from the year before in a builders bag..this year they're great

sav

[Willow_Warren]

I feel terrible... in previous I've just put all the leaves from the garden into the green bin for recycling, I realy need to think now how I can cheaply and easily sort out storing them for future use etc... Since taking up veg growing this year and joining forum I've been thinking this a lot.. 

Hannah