[bigben]

I am just finishing digging the last bit of my allotment. It has not been worked for 6-8 years and the soil does not seem to have much organic matter in it. The obvious way to improve the soil is lots of manure but I have struggled to transport this in the past. The area is around 5 by 4 meters.

I live near a park with loads of free leaves - is there a way to use these in the short term to improve the soil for next years spuds? I am building a leaf litter bin but they will take a year or so to rot down properly.

The other thought I had was shredded paper which some people use for their bean trenches - would this combined with chicken pellets help?

[mumofstig]

I'd be inclined to dig in the leaves now - It sure won't do any harm
They rot down quicker in the soil, than in a heap I find

[DigIt]

I'd be inclined to dig in the leaves now - It sure won't do any harm
They rot down quicker in the soil, than in a heap I find

I agree, I would dig them in now if you need organic matter and then set up your heap for future years as well.
D

[Stevens706]

I would also take them home first and run the lawn mower over them to help them to break down

[Bing]

Leaves break down slowly into a nutrient-poor leaf mould

[gavinjconway]

If you have lots of leaves you can put them in a black bin bag, add some water and put them away for a while - 6-8 months I think and it comes out like perfect compost. You can only do this with leaves... anything else will rot.

_{Just found this on Google for you..
http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/basics/techniques/soil_makeleafmould1.shtml#about_leaf_mould}

(edited to replace copy and paste with url for copyright reasons)

[sunshineband]

Digging in large leaves is hard work 

Plane leaves etc just stick up onto the prongs of the fork and are a nuisance, so unless you can bury them in trenches I woudn;t try this, unless you can chop them first as Stevens suggests.
 
Getting some so that you have leaf mould next year is a good idea though: as other say, it will not have much in the way of nutrients but it does add to the soil structure and water retaining properties too.

[shokkyy]

I used to have a big wire cage for leaf mould, but I now prefer the bin bag method. It definitely took a lot longer to rot them down in the cage and it's difficult to do anything about turning them as well as difficult to take out the rotted stuff without also getting some of the not so rotted stuff. And with bags I can just tuck them away down the side of the shed where they're out of the way. But although it's faster, even after a year the leaves are not completely rotted down, they really do take a while.

[richyrich7]

I tried a few years back with a 2-3" layer of leaves, I rotovated it all in. To be honest it was not the best thing I've ever done even when I was lifting the spuds there was still some traces of old leaves. My soil was pretty spent and wormless tho'

How about green manure ?? very overlooked source of organic matter,plus it covers the soil to help prevent erosion, nutrient leeching competes with the weeds etc. , and it's a hell of a lot lighter than horse muck  

[Yorkie]

Leaves can take 2-3 years to rot down depending on the type of the leaf.

They will remove nitrogen from the soil while rotting down.

I really would not add them to the soil unrotted.

I have horse chestnut leaves on my lawn and they will not make good leafmould because of their waxy coating.  There is also the complication of horse chestnut leaf miner 

[sunshineband]

I felt a bit of a fool with the leaves last year as I just copied the 'old boys' in putting  a thick layer over the empty beds.

Looked great!

Deeply regretted it  

[mumofstig]

why is green manure dug in to rot, but everyone seems to think that you shouldn't do the same with leaves  I can't see a difference, myself. I put leaves in when I dig with no problem *shrugs shoulders*

 

[richyrich7]

why is green manure dug in to rot, but everyone seems to think that you shouldn't do the same with leaves  I can't see a difference, myself. I put leaves in when I dig with no problem *shrugs shoulders*

 

Dunno it could be to do with the water content, fallen leaves are relatively dry compared to green growing leaves/shoots

[shokkyy]

Yes, but isn't it true that the reason some people say don't put unrotted leaves in is because when they start rotting down they consume nitrogen instead of releasing it? If that's the case, I can't really see the difference between digging in unrotted green manure and unrotted leaves.

Actually, the best soil in my clay-filled garden is in the big conifer bed. Years of rotting pine needles creates the most beautiful black peaty soil, albeit with a high acid content.

[sunshineband]

I couldn;t dig green manure in very well either... just feak and weeble I guess