Making leaf mould

[eskymo]

Does any one out there do this?

I'm interested in setting up a small wire frame mesh container to collect leaves in, to make leaf mould. I don't think I would have enough leaves from my garden to produce enough though. Would it seem mad to go into the local woods with a bin liner and collect leaves from there to add to my pile, or would that be a bad idea because of risk of disease or weeds?

Any advice?

[sewer rat]

Leaf mould

Hi eskymo,
I have one apple tree and a very large conical holly in my garden, but am overlooked by a row of really huge beech trees which deposit their leaves in my garden every autumn. I use them all and also sweep up the leaves from trees round our local old folks home. I just bag them and dump them behind the shed for a year - hey presto (if you can call 365 days hey presto) leaf mould ! Don't use holly leaves - take forever to break down, and oak leaves are slow too. Not 100% certain about disease / seed probs but haven't had any myself, and as the process is similar to composting, there shouldn't be any major problems.
Cheers
Rat

[eskymo]

cheers for the response. I'm going to get collecting. I've never mulched before having only been gardening for about a year, so thought it would be a good thing to get into doing, making leaf mould - I guess I could start a few off periodically in order to get a constant supply in the future. Thanks for the advice.

[NOG]

I have a man that collects the leaves for me. He seeps them in to green bags and leaves them in the drive... I just pay him with a cup of tea. He must love doing it cos he got a little trolly and his own brooms.. But i think he's a bit strange cos in the summer when there are no leaves he still sweeps the streets. Still can't complain as I get loads of free leaves. I wonder if the Council knows he is stealing their leaves?.....OK yes I bribe the road sweeper with cups of tea.

[dni_dave]

Leaf man

NOG - is he willing to travel to Aberdeenshire. If he wants to sweep leaves I would gladly give him all the tea he can drink.

I thought I'd managed to convince my father in law to collect leaves using his lawn mower but it only lasted 15 minutes. Still - got 3 bin bags full which is better than nothing.

[NOG]

Spoke to him today and he is on his way. but if he runs out of bags he will have to stop.

[dni_dave]

Bin bag supplies

I'm not sure I'm making tea for someone who doesn't supply their own big bags!

Have just checked - all our trees are evergreen so he might have a long wait!

[andrewo]

Bin bags/compost bags

I reuse my compost bags and I go down to the railway bridge near me where the trees shed like crazy and it gets ankle deep. Don't have a cage, but leave them in the bags after making drainage holes, water them and then dump them behind my raised beds for 12 months and forget them. Always a delight to rediscover them.

It's just a shame that so many trees round me shed, and the council just leaves the leafs on the paths and roads to turn slimey and cause chaos. If I had more space I would take it all!

Andrewo

[eskymo]

Bringing this thread back to life hopefully...

I didn't use a wire mesh cage in the end - I just pile all my leaves into an old compost bag. I forgot to put drainage holes in the bottom of it though and left it open at the top and it was absolutely water logged.

I read somewhere recently that it's a good idea to put a layer of leaves and then a thin layer of soil and repeat until you fill the bag, so I decided to empty the bag out and start again - reeked a bit, but managed to get a nother bacg full of leaf and soil layers and put drainage holes in.

Advice... Should I seal the bag up or leave the top exposed to the elements so that rain pours into it???

I'm abaout to go and collect more leaves to make another bag...

[sewer rat]

Hi Eskymo
Good to have you back - re your leaf mould -if theleaves are wet or even damp, then just seal up the bag. If they are dry, water them a bit first, but not a lot, then seal up the bag, chuck it in a black hole somewhere and forget about it for a lot of months. When you rediscover it, you should have a load of lovely crumbly stuff.
One other thing to remember, a big bag stuffed full of leaves, only produces a very small amount of leaf mould, so maybe try and fill a fair few bags.
And finally, before I go, are you aware of the Tattie Day in Dunblane on 3rd March. I think that there will be several grapes going, self included, and would be great to all meet up.

[eskymo]

Oooh - I'll have to figure out wher Dunblane is and how to get there, but that sounds good as I've not bought any potatoes yet - I'll make a note in my diary. As it's a saturday I'm sure I could pursuade the OH to drive me out there [still not passed my test]!

As for bags of leaves - I've now got two on the go and going to collect some more leaves this w/e - I reckon I could have room for 4 bags in total. I will water them all and seal them up. Thanks for the tip.

[Two_Sheds]

You won't get much leafmould out of your leaves - but its precious stuff. Use it for potting compost - it's black gold

[snohare]

Black gold...is that is what is known in some areas as "tea leaves" ? Of course as a thrifty Aberdonian I hate to see leaves going to waste...always a releaf to see them composted.
Supposedly beech leaves are best for this - great for starting off tree seedlings, that's for sure ! But beware of putting too much moisture in with soil - if it goes sour, boy you'll know where those bags are in the dark...

[eskymo]

Why would they go sour?