[shokkyy]

I ask because I'm really bad at making decent compost (ok for the flower beds but way too many weed seeds/stones for the veg beds), but the garden is surrounded by woodland and full of big trees so we hoover up a ridiculous amount of leaves every year. We pile them up in a chicken wire enclosure for rotting down but that does make it difficult to turn them so we tend to end up with the best stuff at the bottom and hard to reach. I've seen jute sacks sold as a way to rot down leaves more efficiently, i.e. sack rots as well as leaves, so after a year you're left with a nice pile of usable leafmold. Anybody tried these and how well do they work?

[sunshineband]

I just keep mine in a chicken wire cage with a sheet of cardboard over the top all year. Occasionally water them if it is very hot and I remember.

They rot down well and are good to add organic matter, but not much in the way of nutrients like compost or maure does. Worth having though 

[solway cropper]

If you grow stuff in containers leafmould is an excellent addition as it helps retain moisture. I can never produce enough of it to use as a mulch or general compost.

[Zippy]

You don't need to turn leaves as they break down anaerobically as opposed to compost which needs air so you turn it.  I either sling leaves into a wire pen with carpet on top to stop them flying in wind and to hold moisture in, or I just bag them up in black bags, drop some water in and pile them against a wall to rot in the bags; ready in a couple of years either way.

[shokkyy]

Thanks for those tips. I hadn't realised it was so useful. We've always tended to just throw it around all the beds in the autumn. I do grow quite a lot in containers but it would never have occurred to me to use it there. The wire cage we have is already pretty big but I might do some bags as well this autumn. I will wet the leaves in the container as well, I didn't realise it was necessary. We could easily collect twice as many leaves as we do as we get buried in them every year. There's a copse of oak and ash across the lane from our house and every single leaf falls in our garden every year. We've always cursed them

[Zippy]

With Oak and Ashyou are blessed indeed as both leaf types rot down much quicker than others and are already smaller in size. I collect loads of sycamore off the local copse over the road from our allotment and even go hunting for gardens who want their leaves collecting through Freecycle.

[Christine]

Two of us allotment holders did a dutiful road sweeping job down a side road that never gets touched in winter - well castle is closed so no traffic. Between us and a couple of other nip in quick merchants we moved something like 200 large bags of leaves. And we'll do it again this autumn.

That's in addition to compost heaps, pigeon poo and horse manure of course.  We're not greedy - just cheapskates who like it free if we can.

[Zippy]

Freegans eh?

[Christine]

Poor old pensioners me dear. 

[shokkyy]

With Oak and Ashyou are blessed indeed as both leaf types rot down much quicker than others and are already smaller in size. I collect loads of sycamore off the local copse over the road from our allotment and even go hunting for gardens who want their leaves collecting through Freecycle.

Blimey, I wish I'd known before you could get people to come and pick up the leaves from your garden for free Even with a hoover it takes us weeks to clear our garden of leaves. Apart from the copse of oak and ash, we've got oak, ash, maple, birch, willow, cherry, apple, pear, hazelnut - you name it and we've got it growing in our garden. Most years we never really manage to pick them all up, that's probably why the hedgehogs love our garden so much. Are fir cones or pine needles useful for anything compost wise? We get loads of those as well from a couple of big Scots pines.

I hadn't realised before that it was so important for the leaves to stay moist. The top half of our leaf bin always looks dry and the leaves never look like they're rotting down at all till you get right down to the bottom, and I suspect that's why. I need to find something to lay down on top. We don't have any old carpet lying around, but how about plastic?

[Yorkie]

Shokky, plastic would be fine (in fact another method is to put the leaves into bin bags, water, pierce the bags, and leave for a couple of years).

I had heard that conifer etc leaves / pines are acidic but don't know whether that's a) true and b) good reason to avoid ...

[sunshineband]

Shokky, plastic would be fine (in fact another method is to put the leaves into bin bags, water, pierce the bags, and leave for a couple of years).

I had heard that conifer etc leaves / pines are acidic but don't know whether that's a) true and b) good reason to avoid ...

Unless you want to mulch blueberries