Fallen Leaves

[RobinP]

My garden is now covered in leaves. should I collect them up or leave them to dispappear naturally, I know earthworms drag them down.

[Blackdogjnr]

I noticed that on Gardeners World last week Toby was collecting them by the heapload....

I always used to see this job as a real drag, but now, I see it can help out in the spring...

I have a composter and also chucked heaps in black bags and left them to rot behing the shed.

Come next year, I will weed and get my boarders looking good and then use the mulched leaves and other organic matter to keep my plants, shrubs and trees nicely hydrated during the hot weather. It also reduces the chances of weeds growing...

[Hedge Witch]

They will disappear naturally, and this is what I let happen in my garden.

I think it largely depends if you have a use for the leaf mold that is produced - it makes a good soil conditioner, I believe.

[Tursiops2]

It's entirely up to you, how you are managing your garden, and how much work you want to do.

If they've fallen on the lawn and you want them to add their nutrients to the soil (and you don't mind it being messy over the winter) then let the worms do their job. If you want to keep your lawn tidy, or you're managing your grass as a low-nutrient wildflower meadow, then remove them and compost as suggested above. If they've fallen into "natural" shrubby or woodland areas, leave them; they'll form a natural organic mulch, building up into a layer of leaf mould which will play host to a horde of invertebrates and provide a foraging area for Blackbirds and Robins etc. If they've fallen into an ornamental border, they won't do any harm if left as a mulch, but might look a bit untidy. If they've fallen into a pond, they should be cleared immediately, before they sink and rot.

Hope this helps
T2

[Fireweed]

We have a diverse policy on fallen leaves -
1) Always remove from pond;
2) Remove from grass and put in bags to make leafmould (we don't put leaves in the compost bin because they take so long to break down);
2) Leave on beds and borders for minibeasts to lurk under.

[Hedge Witch]

Yes, I did hear that you shouldn't put too many leaves in with the compost, the biological processes that turn leaves into mold, and compost into compost are different and non-compatible.

[nightshade]

We collect them up and either bag them for leaf mould or put them in a sheltered corner for the birds to pick through, one year a hedgehog pressed them all into a corner and hibernated there it was snoring away

[Susie]

Leaf mould is such lovely stuff and is great as a soil conditioner, I can't get enough of the stuff.

I bag up all the leaves on the lawn in black bin bags, stick a few holes in and put them somewhere where they can be forgotten for a while. After a year or so it turns into lovely rich crumbly stuff.

[Bouncytigger]

Well mine are still falling and i reckon it will be two weeks or more before i can sweep them up and heap them into several little piles around the bottom of the trees in quiet places as i'm trying to encourage a HEDGHOG to hibernate in my garden

[tameblackbirds]

Originally Posted by Bouncytigger

Well mine are still falling and i reckon it will be two weeks or more before i can sweep them up and heap them into several little piles around the bottom of the trees in quiet places as i'm trying to encourage a HEDGHOG to hibernate in my garden

I posted about this problem of what to do with leaves I like this idea and will be doing that this year my trees still have lots of leaves to drop so should make a large pile under apple tree thats a great idea thanks