Autumn has come very late this year – and so has the problem of what to do with all those leaves!

Many gardens in the South East are blessed with mature trees and shrubs which are a joy during the Spring and Summer, but they become a real chore once they start shedding their canopies.

However beautiful that carpet of brown, gold and red leaves may be Rule Number One is not to leave them lying there.

Leaves left on lawns and flowerbeds will quickly kill the grass and plants beneath them and encourage moss.

Hazard

If they are left on drives and pathways they become a hazard as rain and frost turn them into a slimy mush you and others can slip and fall on.

So collect your leaves as soon as you can, and preferably before the rain gets to them and makes them more difficult to move and pick up.

At Alexanders we use a combination of professional leaf blowers and leaf rakes. – and no, we do not just blow your leaves out into the road where they become your neighbours’ trouble!

Always ones to turn a problem into an opportunity we use the gathered leaves to create valuable leafmould on site – much more useful and environmentally friendly than burning them in a bonfire or dumping them at the local rubbish tip (which will incur council fees).

Leafmoulding

For larger properties we recommend making a proper leafmoulding cage using chicken wire netting and fencing posts or wooden pallets; for smaller gardens black plastic bin bags pricked with holes will serve the purpose.

A top tip in reducing the volume of the leaves and speeding up the decomposition process is to gather the leaves with a mower set on ‘high’ which will lacerate the leaves and speed up collection too.

Within a year a rough leafy mulch will have been created which can be used on your flower beds to protect against frost and retain moisture, and it can be used to break up heavy clay soils.

Alternatively it can be left to rot down for longer to become an excellent crumbly leafmould which acts as a soil improver, or good potting material when mixed with garden compost, sharp sand and loam.

There’s something very satisfying about knowing you have turned a blight – all those fallen leaves – into the benefit of putting goodness back into your garden!

Gardening Tip: Keep your compost heap and your leafmould separate.

You can add leaves to your compost (especially if it is mainly made up of soggy grass cuttings), however it is important to understand that the process for creating leafmould is very different from that for making compost.

In leafmould fungi break down the leaves, whereas in compost more bacteria and micro organisms are active – which is why compost heaps often become hot in the centre.

Keeping your leafmould and compost separate means you will have two very different products at the end which will have different uses in your garden.

I hope this is helpful – please feel free to comment, give feedback or ask any questions you may have by using the comment box below.

In my next Blog I will be offering more Winter advice so please stay tuned, either by subscribing to our RSS feed or by regularly checking back to see what we are up to!

Thank you for your interest

Alex