[Kleftiwallah]

Good evening everyone,     Never having made leaf muld before I'm making leafmould at a frantic pace, leaves from the park and the shedded Dailymail.  I have a quantity of sieved wood ash, should I incorporate it into the leaf mould, I also have some garden lime (called "soil improver")  should this go in as well?

Cheers,  Tony.

[snowdrops]

As I understand leaf mould you just make it with ...leaves! Start adding things & it won’t strictly be leaf mould, more compost 😊.

[Growing Weather]

To get a quicker start..............You could put a light sprinkling of soil and perhaps a sprinkling of say Sulphate of Ammonia or Dried Blood over each 10 inch layer

[Plot 1 Problems]

I agree with Snowdrops, just leave the leaves to do their thing. I bag mine up and forget about them for 2 years, unless I'm short of brown waste during the summer, then I just open a bag and add it to the compost heap.

[Kleftiwallah]

A follow on question, and gives an idea of the amount of leaves being processed.  Due to lack of space, could I stack bags on top of each other or will this hinder airflow and the composting precess?

Cheers,  Tony

[Plot 1 Problems]

Poke a few holes in the bags and they'll be fine. I think air flow is less important in making leaf mould as (if I recall correctly) the decomposition is caused by a fungal process as opposed to the predominantly bacterial driven activity in normal composting.

[jezza]

Hello I make 35 bags of leaf mold a year I chop the leaves first with a rotary mower ,oak  leaves take longer to make so I mix them with other chopped leaves  after a couple of months with a blower vac in vac mode walnuts make compost quickly if chopped as they are leathery and take ages if left whole,photo of last years crab apple walnut and chestnut  leaf mold mix

[Kleftiwallah]

Many thanks for those contributions, well I have 5 bags of leaf mould (to be). One with seaweed liquor and shredded newspaper, one with horse manure liquor and shredded newspaper, one with Garrota and shredded newspaper, one with wood ashes and shredded newspaper  and the last with just Garrota.
Now I must away to write that all down and pop onto the side of the freezer or I'm bound to forget.  I'll let you know the outcome in 2022(ish).

Cheers,  Tony.

[Yorkie]

Might also be worth tying a label onto each bag - otherwise they'll get blown about and you'll never know whih was which in 2 years' time!! 

[jezza]

Hello did you use the liquid type garrota or the granular type ?you might find that the granular sits in layers unless very well mixed after a 6 weeks I'd tip each bag out and using a good muck fork stir it up,if it's a bit dry and you have a good garden vac run it through that then add a drop of water after its re bagged dont make it sloppy as it will never make leaf mould also the one with wiid ash might not turn properly as the wood ash can go clarty and make a solid layer of it settles out     jezza