Leaf mould

At this time of the year when the seeds are sprouting but not much else, we spent quite a lot of time preparing for future years. One of the things Mr has built is a wire bin to make leaf mould. Building it wasn't quite as easy as first thought - for one thing it has been difficult getting the wooden posts to stay upright! It was constructed with 4 wooden posts, a role of chicken wire and u-shaped nails - all available in the local DIY/garden store. The 120cm posts were about 1m square apart and the chicken wire about 120 cm tall. Mr laid out the posts on the ground, unrolled the chicken wire on top and hammered the wire to the posts using the nails. The whole thing was then stood upright in position and the posts hammered into the ground. Hey presto, you then have a wire bin.

Leaves do not compost very easily, so it is best to compost them seperately. Once the autumn leaves break down, added to the soil, they really help improve its condition (but not high in nutrients). In some parts of the garden I've just dug the leaves straight in (but not too many) and the worms get to work on them quite quickly.

We've got loads of trees in our garden, including a small oak so there are plenty of leaves every year to keep us going! I spent an hour clearing out a couple of wheelbarrows worth of leaves from one small corner of the garden. Slugs love to hide under these piles of leaves so that's even more of an incentive to get rid of them. When we moved a pile of leaves that were next to the compost bin, we found a few green ones waiting to eat our hard - grown veg...

We've positioned the bin under one of the trees in a spot that gets some sun but not too much. We have to keep the pile wet and adding grass cuttings also helps. In a year or two we'll have to see how it has got on.