[Dandy]

Hi as many of you know we finally got our little plot. Its not in too bad a state as the chap before covered the beds in leaves, now do we rotavate these in or put them in a compost bin? there is a wire box there with a few leaves in the bottom so not sure if we should put the leaves in the wire bin? HEELLLPPP!!! Ta eversomuch.

[compostqueen]

You can rotovate them in or take them off and put them in the leaf bin to rot down. A leaf bin, made of wire, as you seem to have inherited, is a very good thing and will make you some lovely leaf mould. It does take a while but it just sits there doing its own thing until one day you find it all crumbly and gorgeous 

If the leaf layer (which has been used here as a mulch) is very thick it might be too hard work for your machine to cope with so you might have to lose some of them to your leaf bin

Good luck

[Dandy]

Thanks for that compostqueen. 

[Trillium]

I love leaf mulch on the garden and my tomatoes particularly love it. As said, if spread too thick, it's a bit hard to work the soil, but you can always turn it under or rotovate it in if that's how you like to do it. Never waste leaves, they're valuable. 

[Ema]

Highly toxic so I would be careful about spraying on things your going to eat unless its just the leaves way before any fruit.

Personally mine just go on the heap

I've tried garlic water as a bug killer not sure if it had anymore success than plain water.
 
having a terrible time with aphids and white flys attacking my seedlings indoors - I've locked the house down and am inspecting daily, rinsing plants and cleaning surfaces

[JayG]

Is your post about rhubarb leaves Ema? (Think you might have replied in the wrong thread.)

[sunshineband]

Going back to the original post ---

If you have raspberries or other soft fruit, these leaves will make a great mulch for them. Just make sure the ground is damp before spreading them