[garddwr]

how long does it take ?

[naturesparadise]

dont wish to put a spanner in the works but

in the private life of plants David Attenborough said that rotting leaves release nitrogen into the soil not use it to brake down the leaves
as fungi do this

i use leaves and get great growth in my plants  :?

[compostqueen]

I put leaves on as a top dressing but they got blown all over the place so now they rot down in a chicken wire bin where they take a season or more to rot down.  I used some yesterday where I was planting shallots and garlic.  You start out with a full bin, about four feet deep and it slumps to virtually inches     I sometimes put it through a rotary sieve when I'm mixing it with soil for sowing.  It's good for using with carrots amongst other things

[DIGGER]

Ummm   I think I might leave them a year , then again I might dig them in.
Then again I might just think about it a bit longer.

Ummm If I dont do anything I will have to get rid of them.

Right no time today,football tomorrow, going out Sunday. I will decide on Monday.
There i have made a decision...

[compostqueen]

[DIGGER]

Because of the decisions surrounding the Bradford and Bingley , I have decided to delay the decision regarding the leaves to a later date.

[compostqueen]

Nut case    

I'm using my year old leaves up at the moment.  The lumpy soil I was putting through my rotary sieve was too wet so I added some dry year old leaves to see if it would help.  It did, and I got a lovely mixture for planting my onion sets in. I needed some fine soil so put over my onions as I only had right clumpy stuff from where I'd unearthed the spuds  

[lucywil]

Ummm   I think I might leave them a year , then again I might dig them in.
Then again I might just think about it a bit longer.

Ummm If I dont do anything I will have to get rid of them.

Right no time today,football tomorrow, going out Sunday. I will decide on Monday.
There i have made a decision...

why don't you do half and half, dig half in and save the other half, then you can decide which you prefer

[DIGGER]

I think I will do half and half. Dig half in and save the other half. Then I can decide whats best.
HEY HEY HEY

[SalJ1980]

I read/heard/made up somewhere

         

[FCG]

Digger you are a laugh, not  :twisted:. Any ways to speed the process up?

[fletch]

[/QUOTE]how long does it take ?

I've heard that you should leave them for a year, I saved 2 bin bags full last year and they rotted down nicely until June when OH's son had a "tidy up" and chucked them  :evil:

So. I'll be starting all over again this year  :roll: .

[compostqueen]

Doh  :roll:

[DIGGER]

Sorry to rake up a really old thread but I thought I should report back.
Today I took six bags of leaves to the allotment tipped them out dug them in. They  covered such a small area. Just goes to show that I made a mountain out of a molehill.
Wont bother with that again
I really am not having a good day. Still night out with the old boys tonight.