Collecting and storing Leaves for Leaf Mould

[Dynamo]

I've been collecting leaves these past few days. I've got 4 bin bags full so far but I'll get more. I'm mixing them into my other compost bins and I also put some in my wormeries. I've just found a big plastic sheet that I'm going to cover some newly dug soil with so I'm going to put a load of leaves beneath that too.

[Dynamite]

Rob, I'd consider making it a bit shorter and wider if possible so more surface area for worms etc and also for water from rain to keep it all moist. However if you have wood to easily make it that size without much cutting etc I'm sure it would still work.
Billy's lad, I've left leaf mould for a year in my cage and some of it was good but some went back in to rot down further, I think it rots down quicker in bags but I've never checked it in less than a year. Just open one up in nine months and have a look I guess.

Thanks Jimny

[Dynamo]

I spread a load of leaves over some freshly dug soil this morning and then covered them up.

[bikermike]

I've tried various things
putting the leaves on a bed and covering it seems to work very well

leaves in binbags didn't work last year, but has worked really well this year (4 bags of leaves seems to have produced about 1 bag of leafmold).

I now need to work out what to do with it.

I have my eye on the about-to-be-replaced shower curtain at home to make a very big bag for leaves.

[lottieguy]

Hi Ya, Interesting, A very good soil conditioner. I initially bagged the leaves but found they dried out to quick and it was a hassle emptying them. Last year I made two wire frames to hold them and left uncovered to the elements they have rotted well but down to about a 1/4 of what I put in. This year I have spread a good layer over bare ground with compost on the area my beans will be grown next year and will see how they do. Our ground is hungry for any thing you chuck on it. Should I cover them or not? keeping the moisture in is a problem. In the black bag system I should perhaps of opened the bags and given them a good soaking occasionally I think. I am interested to see how this years effort progress's. Each to their own but I am willing to try new avenues. happy Gardening

[Dynamo]

Should I cover them or not?

Personally I would. First it would stop them blowing away and it would also keep them moist.

[KevinM67]

I've only got room for 2 compost bins, and 1 has all the lifted turf when I made my contained (raised) beds last year.

After checking it at the weekend there, I had forgot that I had added my excess leaves in layers between the upturned turf.

They are now a magical looking dark brown, crumbly, composty-like matter. Happy days.

[nickdub]

Oddly I have just embarked on a maximize leaf-mould creation time project. I have a builder's bag 3/4 full of mostly beech leaves which I hauled in to dry storage, hopefully to help slow the decomposition process down. The reason being that I'm planning to use the leaves next year for growing mushrooms, so I want to preserve them until the weather warms up again.

(I'm not out of step - I'm just heading off on a different path :-)

[Dynamo]

I've been watching a few You Tube videos on the subject these last few days but this one looks like a good idea.

https://youtu.be/dSo9n63mth4

My partner owns a cafe and every few weeks I get a tub full of coffee grinds that I put in my wormeries but I could put the stuff to better use on my leaves I reckon. I also figure that if I don't have enough grinds I could always use some growmore. I've got ten bin bags full of leaves at the moment but I'll easily get many more. I'm looking forward to having tons of leafmould next year. :-)

[Dynamite]

I've been watching a few You Tube videos on the subject these last few days but this one looks like a good idea.

https://youtu.be/dSo9n63mth4

My partner owns a cafe and every few weeks I get a tub full of coffee grinds that I put in my wormeries but I could put the stuff to better use on my leaves I reckon. I also figure that if I don't have enough grinds I could always use some growmore. I've got ten bin bags full of leaves at the moment but I'll easily get many more. I'm looking forward to having tons of leafmould next year. :-)

Thanks Dynamo. Great idea

[Dynamo]

Tomorrow I'm hoping to get a leaf vacuum delivered. It also shreds the leaves which should help to make leaf mould quicker. I doubt it'll only take two months like it says in the video here but you never know.

https://youtu.be/dSo9n63mth4

I'm going to follow what happens in the video apart from one thing. I don't have any coffee grinds available at the moment, and I don't want to use growmore to help speed it up. However, my wormeries are chucking out an excessive amount of juices at the moment so I'm going to use that as it's supposed to be rich in nitrogen.

[Dynamite]

I’ve collected all mine now and have put them in a brown wheelie bin. I have watered them with Manure Tea and put the lid on. Will leave them now and monitor how they get on.

Regards......Rob