Making leaf mould

[MrsBertBibby]

Is it that easy?

I have 3 sacks of raked up leaves, if I put holes in the sacks and stash them, will I really have something good in 2 years, or just a load of sludge?

If you have plenty of holes, you’ll have leafmould. It’ll shrink in volume so probably 3 half sacks.

OK, you've convinced me. It just seems a bit too good to be true!

Have you ever rooted around in the soil in woodland? A top layer of dead leaves, then, under that, a layer of leaf mould (although it may be too full of roots to recognise)

@MrsBertBibby, I soak the leaves first and chuck in some compost in the bag. It's meant to speed things up.

I collect and store leaves in dumpy bags. This spring I will be using the leaves from autumn 2020 as mulch, or mixed with compost for planting woodlanders

Just be sure the sacks are not degradable (bio or otherwise)! Empty compost bags are ideal if you have some

Errol, why not degradable please?

I have about 15 bags of leaves from neighbours’ trees. I put them in jute string bags from Crocus & have stuck them behind the shed.

Have I fallen for a marketing ploy….?

Because leaves can take longer to rot than some bags (tough tree leaves may take 2-3 years) as I discovered one year when I'd used ordinary black bags... they disintegrated when I tried to lift them.

Oh. I see. Thanks.

Hmm. Honestly can’t face re-bagging them. Think I’ll put it down to experience. Use different ones next year.

Thanks!

Jute might survive well enough and won't leave bits of semi degraded plastic among the compost!

Traditional way is to make a wire netting compound

We have a wire netting affair. Apparently peeing on it every so often helps it along a bit, or so DH says.

Pee is high nitrogen and a traditional ingredient of compost heaps (recommended by Bob Flowerdew under the name “recycled beer”). It beats trailing through the house in muddy boots.

Allegedly female pee is to be avoided because of the hormone content. I assume post-menopausal pee is ok.

We put leaves into our compost area and as long as they have air around them they will become leaf mould. You just fork them over occasionally. Be careful though, there could be a hedgehog in them. Never bothered with a bag!

@MereDintofPandiculation I've never attempted to wee into the leaf mould, but thanks for the heads up. I'll wait until the menopause is finished.

Leaf mould is a different process than composting. Don't wee on leaves but by all means wee on compost. You don't need to add compost either. Just leaves and water.

I've been mowing leaves just today, they all go into a builders bag after mowing and i'll probably sieve it late summer ready for sowing seeds in spring 2023.

Leaf mould is a natural process and happens without intervention in woods. You just need to collect the leaves. Then leave them undisturbed in a collection area outside. We have a composting area divided into 3 bays. One is for leaf mould. If gets rained on. That’s all. It’s really very simple.,

@Shedmistress

Leaf mould is a different process than composting. Don't wee on leaves but by all means wee on compost. You don't need to add compost either. Just leaves and water.

I've been mowing leaves just today, they all go into a builders bag after mowing and i'll probably sieve it late summer ready for sowing seeds in spring 2023.

Leaf mould is basically fungal?

Compost is bacterial and aided by extra nitrogen, or if cold, then fungal, and earthworms?

[quote NigellaAwesome]@MereDintofPandiculation I've never attempted to wee into the leaf mould, but thanks for the heads up. I'll wait until the menopause is finished. [/quote]
If you’re weeing into compost, it's usually easier to wee into a bucket kept in a well secluded bit of the garden. To keep the bucket sweet, scatter some soil into the bottom after you empty it