Monday, December 08, 2008

Trying to get it all done....


Blimey, where did those weeks go?

Here's one answer: I've been a total slave to my leafmould bin since about mid-November. What with the painfully short hours of daylight, I've been grabbing my leaf rake every chance I get and not coming in till dark (that'll be when the kids get home from school, then). And on top of that I've been planting the remainder of the tulip bulbs, putting the last few plants mouldering on my patio into the ground at last, and finally getting on top of my legions of weeds.

I get very obsessed by autumn leaves at this time of year. The bottom part of our garden is pretty much a woodland, what with four mature apple trees and a boundary with next-door lined with hazel, oak and ash. So the result is a blizzard of multicoloured autumn leaves which starts some time around October and is only just starting to die down now.

I raked through the whole lot in November, and then turned round and started again. Now I'm on the home run with only a few stragglers thumbing their noses at me from the treetops and a leafmould bin piled high with lovely crispy leaves. It'll take a year to rot down into good soil conditioner (if you want it for mixing up potting composts, leave it another year) - and though it's a lot of work and a long wait, it's so worth it. Piles of the very best black crumbly perfection to add to your soil every autumn - you can almost see the plants plunging their roots into it luxuriously the moment you shovel it on.

2 comments:

emmat said...

Cor nice work lady. every year I think "I must rake up some of the street leaves and compost them" but I never do it. I came home the other night, though, to find a fox scuffling through a pile of leaves that had accumulated on the front path. I realised afterwards it was probably a search for some nice juicy fresh worms... after all, rubbish is nice, but fresh worms is better...

Plant Mad Nige said...

Leafmould is like gold dust but some leaves seem to have built-in anti-rot agents. London plane, in particular, is almost indestructible.

Emmat, I love the idea of street leaves, but would worry a little about road salt. Our local authority comes through with the salt truck from October onwards, whenever there's the merest touch of frost. The only time they don't come is if it snows!

Even then, I suppose it should be easy to allow the salt to be 'rained out' of the mould.

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