Kitchen Garden Forum

I have about 2/3rd of a compost bin's worth of last year's leaves rotted down from 2 bins originally. What is best to use it for?
I have about another bin's worth of ordinary compost(household /allotment/coffee grains and shredded paper) well rotted now Should I mix the two together and spread as a mulch?
Your clever tips appreciated.
Regards
Penny

Dear Penny, leaf mould makes a wonderful soil conditioner, either dug in the top few inches of the soil or used as a mulch.
You can mix it with your homemade compost if you so wish, then it will go a little further.

If you left it, or saved some to the spring, it becomes very useful stuff to spread along the bottom of drills prior to seed sowing. It really does seem to help with the germination, as it doesn't dry out as quickly as soil or compost.

Hi Penny,
If leaf mold is rubbed through a sieve it makes very a good seeding compound.
If used as a mulch I feel would be a waste as it generally dries out and gets blown away with the first high wind. Best dug in if not needed for seeding compound.
JB.

Morning Johnboy, do you think it would be better to use leaf mould that was two years old, and just made out of a hard leaf like Oak or Beech, if you were going to use it for seeding compound that is?

It never seems quite the same stuff when a mixture of hard and soft leaves have been used.

Hi OH,
I must confess that most of my leaves are either Oak or Beech and these I put into black dustbin sacks prick the bottom and add to the pile. When I get to using them is generally when they have stood three or maybe four years. I simply sling them into the bottom of the hedge in my orchard (being the only hedge that doesn't get flailed) and by the time I get to using them they have generally shrunk to a quarter of the volume they started off.
JB.

Great ideas thanks. I think I'll mix and mulch some and save some too for spring.
Penny