Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Growing => General Gardening => Topic started by: Bhilton on November 10, 2020, 09:23
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My garden has a line of large trees on one side and every autumn we are literally swimming in fallen leaves. As beautiful as this is, quite frankly it's a pain in the wotsit to clear them each year.
This year we decided to try and compost them or at least break them down into useful organic matter. Or is it useful...so this is the line of the post
Here's what I did last Sunday (Image attachment as I couldn't figure out how to post it as a file within the message :unsure:) to avoid bagging up the leaves into a dozen black plastic bin liners.
I don't want to get into next summer and see these leaves looking just like they do right now, so any advice from your guys with experience of this.
1. What is the best way to break down these leaves?
2. What is the best way to use them once broken down, other than a mulch?
Thanks
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I have some horse chestnut trees near my garden boundary, with all the leaves from them in autumn!
To be honest, I don't do anything with them other than put them in the green wheelie bin. The stalk is very waxy and I was advised by a tutor at the local horticultural college that they would take some years to rot down. I just don't have the space for years and years worth of black bin bags of leaves to make leaf mulch.
That being said, I know of some people who run their mower over leaves to chop them up before putting them away to rot down. One piece of advice I do remember is to keep your leaves separate from the standard compost bin, because they do take quite a bit longer to rot down.
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I'm one of those people that runs the mower over them before bagging them up. But rather than waiting for them to break down into leafmould I start adding them to my compost heap in the spring when the first grass clipping are going in. Mixed up well with a little Golden Elixir I normally find the temperature of the heap rises quickly and the compost production line is full swing for most of the summer.
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Hello run a rotary mower on high setting over the leaves then drop one height if you have boarders spread them over the ground or find a corner and pile them up you'll have good compost in a few months ,it counts as one form of exercise and I find it very therapeutic chopping leaves (reduction therapy ) jezza
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I'm one of those people that runs the mower over them before bagging them up. But rather than waiting for them to break down into leafmould I start adding them to my compost heap in the spring when the first grass clipping are going in. Mixed up well with a little Golden Elixir I normally find the temperature of the heap rises quickly and the compost production line is full swing for most of the summer.
Now I feel like a right novice... :wacko: what a very sensible and practical idea. I may pull all the leaves back out and try it.
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Leaves have a tremendous amount of organic matter, but not much available nitrogen. The carbon nitrogen (C:N) ratio of dry leaves is often 60:1, whereas decomposition proceeds best at C:N of 20:1 to 30:1, releasing the additional nitrogen trapped in the organic matter... to accelerate decomposition, you need to add some nitrogen. This could come from manure, but can also come from chemical fertilizer. Rather that worrying about precise ratios, just add some nitrogen any way that is practical for you. If you have some fertilizer that has gotten damp and does not spread or mix well into soil, consider adding that into your leaves that you are trying to compost.
Chopping the leaves with a mower is helpful to start the breakdown process. Your wire bin is also helpful, air gets to the leaves from the sides, worms get into the pile from below. This is far better than leaving them bagged up. My compost in a pile on the ground, and occasionally turned, breaks down to useable compost in several months.
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Yes I agree 1) do not bag the leaves 2) keep them in a wire mesh cage as pictured above
They are terrific for adding to your soil, they will lighten clay soils and make sandy soils more water retentive.
Do not waste such a valuable resource.