Piles of dead leaves

[gardeningnovice5]

Would you leave big mounds of dead leaves on bare bits of flower bed, to attract spiders and other bugs? Or will they just look untidy and/or blow everywhere?

I would guess they’ll blow about and they can also hide slugs

Hm! What’s a better way to attract bugs - maybe a log pile? I do have some big old logs I could use.

I've just started to do this. It's been working fine.

Yes go for the log pile too.

If you make a cage with some chicken wire or something similar, pile dead leaves in it and it rots down to make wonderful leaf mould compost.

Or stick in some sticks/canes as a wigwam and build a teepee for the bits? Like a dead hedge, but conical, and with a mix of bits.
I think this has a name, but I've forgotten it...

Or all of the above? Log pile, or bit of wood left to rot where no one can see it, then leaf bin, dead cone thingy!

If you can, try and chop them up a bit (with lawn mower or leaf blower). It just makes it easier for them to rot down/be incorporated into the soil.

This!!

I tend to leave a few piles around under trees and things - just basically not have the tidiest of gardens in order to help the wee beasties and the birds that feed on them. We have a lot of leaves falling on the garden though and it creates too much of a thatch not to clean some of them up.

I collect them up in old compost bags and in bin bags and they rot down at the back of the garage.

Yes absolutely. It's called Mulching. I rake everything off the lawns onto the flower or veg beds. It holds the moisture in and can save plants in heatwaves.

I would leave them

if prefer “untidy” to sterile