Green Gardening

[Paul Narramore]

When I used to look after twenty four gardens - thank goodness it's now down to eight or so - the grass cuttings had to be placed in green sacks, not any green sacks, but special council sacks. These were much dearer than any old green sack and the cost was supposed to go towards disposing of the green rubbish. This always seemed a bit pointless to me. Why cut the grass and give the grass cuttings away? I failed to convince even one customer to allow me to build a compost heap, even customers with large gardens where the siting of a compost bin wouldn't have been an eyesore. I failed to pursuade them that mulching with compost would cut down by 80% the amount of weed growth, or that digging in the compost would improve the soil and the plants. I was just banging my head against a wall. Not one customer had a water butt yet they knew that rainwater was far, far better for plants than tap water.

I've just been reading Monty's Daily Mail 'Weekend' gardening article on leaf mould. Many gardener's seem to get a bit stressed up about autumn leaves whereas I like them. OK, when too much falls on the lawn, it doesn't tend to do the grass any good but my way of dealing with them is to wait until most of the leaves have fallen before I go over them with my motor mower. The leaves are all picked up and shredded, then put in black plastic sacks. I pour in half a watering can of water then hide them away at the bottom of the garden. This week I looked at the leaves I stored last year. The sacks are now a third of their original height and the leaf mould resembled damp tea leaves. Wonderful. I shall add the leaf mould to the borders as a mulch and I'm certain the soil and plants will love it.:)

[digger]

I agree completely Paul, i have just ben making a store for my collected leaves in a wheelie bin, last years leaves were left in sacks to rot down and a few weeks ago i emptied the sacks and they were all well rotted i will use this leaf mold to mulch my borders and i have an area of ferns that will really benefit from a mulch of rotted leaves. This year i have collected so many leaves that i need extra room the wheelie bin is full and the rest of the leaves are in sacks round the back of my tool shed.

[AnnaDyne]

I have a leaf space* that I made by just putting a bit of spare wire fencing across a corner of the compost space (I have 3 compost bins at the bottom of my garden!!).
However, we are surrounded by trees so it is jam-packed now after two weeks of raking. Our lawn is rather poor so I don't like to leave the leaves on it for very long.

*Just remembered - it's called a leaf basket, I think it was recommended on a Gardener's World type programme a few years ago.

[Miranda]

Isn't that strange, Paul. You really do have to wonder why people could be so against the idea of a compost heap that not one of your customers would let you build one. At a garden I'm currently helping with, I told the owners that the soil had become very impoverished and needed a lot of bulky organic matter digging in to improve it (it's quite grey and very sandy). The reply was 'Can't we just put a chemical on it?' No, you flaming well can't, there are no shortcuts that way.

I love having our own compost and use it to mulch the beds. One thing I've learned is not to compost tomatoes. The seeds don't rot down and you get seedlings popping up all over the place.

[Paul Narramore]

Yes, Miranda, I've had the same thing about using fresh horse muck. "Oh what about the smell?" One garden I used to do, the soil was like cement and the elderly lady used to ask me to weed it. It was back breaking work and the hardness of the 'soil' used to jar the spade handle. I asked if I could mulch the top of the soil as this would not only improve the soil, but cut down drastically on the weeding. "No" she said "the birds would disturb it and it would end up on the paths". In one breath they'd say that I knew more about gardening than them, but then wouldn't accept my advice. I think many people just like very neat, pretty pretty gardens rather than gardens which are lush and healthy.

[Miranda]

Horse muck doesn't really smell much at all and any smell it does have would soon go. A lot of people here are of the 'very neat, pretty pretty gardens' type. The beds are stripped out in October, leaving bare soil for the next six months, and then planted with the same range of annuals every year. Bright, bright colours, all neatly laid out in rows, the same range in nearly every garden. It's no wonder that so few young people are interested in gardening if this is all the inspiration they get.

I think one of the things I find depressing is that people want to deny that we share this world with other creatures. Yes, birds will come into your garden - it's their world too - and so will any other creature that finds the place provides food or shelter.

[Maire]

I'm having a go at leaf mould for the first time this year. My 5 year old helped me gather the leaves and they're sitting in open weave sacks behind my shed. It's mostly beech leaves we gathered. What else do I need to do/ how long will it take to become useable/ What should it look like when it's ready to use and what is the best way to use it?
My daughter is going to help me plant bulbs this afternoon so at least one wee budding gardener in the making.

[digger]

Hello Maire, I think beech leaves may take some time torot down, I've seen the open weave sacks they should be fine. You could give the leaves a good soaking that will help them to decay. It will be at least a year before the leaves are useable, when they have rotted down they should be almost black in colour and will be crumbly(friable) to the touch, you can use them as a mulch or as a soil improver by incorporating them into planting holes. Leaf mold is of little nutritional benefit however it is invaluable in improving the texture of your soil, using it as a mulch is ideal because the worms will draw it into the soil for you and then the worm "poo" will have lots of plant feed in it.

[Paul Narramore]

Maire
As Digger rightly says, these will take quite a while to rot down however you can do as I've done and that is to 'pick up' the fallen leaves (mine are mostly sycamore leaves) with the motor mower. This shreds them into small pieces and speeds up the decomposition. It'll still take a year (some say longer) but I just place them in black plastic sacks, half a watering can of water, then into a corner of the garden out of sight, and let them get on with it. I was talking to a friend last night who put out six sacks of fallen leaves for the dustman. Had I known, I would have been up there for myself. Monty would also suggest aggitating the pile every month or so, and you might care to put a piece of old carpet over the top so the compost is a bit warmer and it will keep a lot of the rain off.

[Maire]

Hello Maire, I think beech leaves may take some time torot down, I've seen the open weave sacks they should be fine. You could give the leaves a good soaking that will help them to decay. It will be at least a year before the leaves are useable, when they have rotted down they should be almost black in colour and will be crumbly(friable) to the touch, you can use them as a mulch or as a soil improver by incorporating them into planting holes. Leaf mold is of little nutritional benefit however it is invaluable in improving the texture of your soil, using it as a mulch is ideal because the worms will draw it into the soil for you and then the worm "poo" will have lots of plant feed in it.
Thanks very much for the advice.