Can I do anything useful with leaves?

[CantWaitForTheSnow]

At the moment they are all bagged up. Just wondering though if I can do anything useful with them.

Haven't got a veg patch yet, but hoping to have one by Spring so thinking of composting them possibly? If so, anything special I need to do or just bung them in a heap in the garden?

Leave them in bin bag to make a mulch for next winter. poke a few holes in bag and leave for 1 year. The spread over beds next year. Leaves won't compost.

HTH

Thanks Cece. So they're no good for my vegetables but after a year or so I can spread them about under bushes and around green leafy plants?

Sorry, its a little obvious I don't know what I'm doing isn't it. Trying to learn slowly.

Leaf mould is lovely stuff. Let the leaves rot down in the bin bag, or in a mesh compst bin, for at least a yr - maybe two. It can be used as a mulch but some say it is the best seed compost youy can get. HTH

(or leave them for the hedgehogs, of course...)

Leafmould is acid - you can use it to improve soil anwhere you are growing something that likes acid soil like camellias and rhodies and azaleas. It also feels wonderful when it's rotted down, like silky little petals. In the veg patch it is a fab soil improver whether your soil is claggy clay or dusty sand, but don't put it where you might grow brassicas next year (cabbages etc - because there is a nasty fungus they get called clubroot, and clubroot likes acid)

Can I do this with wet leaves, or do they have to be dry when raked up?

They are better wet. So I would puncture the sides of the bag, maybe pour a bit of water in the top, then tie up and leave in a corner.

Oooooh, I feel inspired. I knew I could do something more interesting than burning them. Thankyou.