start collecting those leaves folks!

[Dynamo]

Sounds like you have struck gold TS........are they really that good?...it's new to me.

Anything that improves the soil is good, plus its free.

[Two_Sheds]

.......are they really that good?...it's new to me.

Yes: see it as free potting compost. Factsheet about making leafmould

Your local council may deliver lorry loads to allotments ... As they have to pay landfill charges for dumping them elsewhere, there should be no charge for this.

[Nicos]

Watch out with the council leaves though as they are road sweepings with all bits and bobs in which isn't just litter!( stones, plastic, meal....)

One year we had about 8 loads 'delivered' to our site ....got all excited...only to find they were more than 90% pine needles!

[Bigmallly]

Yes: see it as free potting compost. Factsheet about making leafmould

Thanks TS, that's exactly what I wanted.

[pipkins]

Thanks for you words of warning Nicos

We live on a fairly clean street but I will check the bags when I empty them in to the leaf holder.

[Glutton4...]

My leaf collection now stands at a whopping 36 bin bags I love customers with trees round their gardens!

Oh yeah, that's without the trees we've got, which are just about bare now, so I expect the total to end up at around double that! It'll probably rot down to chuff-all but I live in hope!

[Bren In Pots]

Mine seems to rot down to about ¼ a bag after a couple of years, its lovely stuff and free.

[janeyo]

OK i only have 2 bin bags from ym palle tree (but better than nothign right?) but have a daft question.
The leaves were fairly damp when I raked them up, so I think I don't need to add any water to them.
But do I have to put holes in the bags? I read 'yes' on one site and 'no' on another.
Need the grapes opinion

[Shadylane]

While raking don't you ever worry that you may rake up something unpleasant. I was collecting some leaves to use as mulch in between the fruit bushes and was reluctant to go into the nearby wooded bit for fear of raking up something unpleasant.

Anyway I decided to risk it and the first thing I did was rake up something unpleasant. I wouldn't mind (well actually I would ), but there's a bin nearby for people to put such unpleasantness in when their little pooch decides to do it's dirty sinful business all over where I'm planning to rake up leaves

[Bren In Pots]

Janeyo I've been adding extra water and poking holes in my bags.

I only collect leaves off my own garden so unless someone's cat's been visiting I shouldn't fined any surprises, bit yuk what you found Sandylane.

[snakeshack]

now have 15 bags of leaves at the allotment with no effort at all.
local council collects and bags them and "leaves" them at the side of the road for pick up later.
they rarely get to collect if I see them first!
guerilla recycling in action,they even provide the bags.

[Shadylane]

Janeyo I've been adding extra water and poking holes in my bags.

I only collect leaves off my own garden so unless someone's cat's been visiting I shouldn't fined any surprises, bit yuk what you found Sandylane.

Yes it was. I'm just glad that I saw it before I picked it up. That would have been worse

[OllieMartin]

I just read on Wikipedia's article on composting that:
"The most efficient composting occurs with a carbon:nitrogen mix of about 30 to 1...Fresh grass clippings have an average ratio of about 15 to 1 and dry autumn leaves about 50 to 1 depending on species. Mixing equal parts by volume approximates the ideal C:N range."

Does anyone mix their leaves with grass clippings?
I'm wondering if this would save quite a lot of time in the leaf mould production.

[Jeanied]

So the best way to collect leaves is the last lawn mowing of the year with the grass box on? For those of you with a lawn surrounded by trees that is!

[Two_Sheds]

Does anyone mix their leaves with grass clippings?
I'm wondering if this would save quite a lot of time in the leaf mould production.

Yes it would, but I collect leaves in November, when the grass has stopped growing