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leafmould

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campanula:
Have just collected my first 10 binbags of leaves - hoping to do another 10 at least. What are the best leaves- I think it has something to do with levels of lignin- so I have avoided chestnuts and beech, having heard that they have high lignin levels. I have mainly got ash,prunus and birch. Any ideas. Also, what sort of amounts will I get from each binbag - for all I know, I could end up with a teacup per bag. Is 20 bags reasonable. Should I try to squeeze 30 in. As I have the most minute garden at home, I have never had room to do leaf mould before so I am overjoyed at this bountiful free harvest and having lottie space to store it. Yippee!

Doris_Pinks:
Campanula, do as many as you can, can never have enough leafmould, wonderful stuff! It does somewhat reduce!! Can't help you on the types of leaves, and have never heard of lignin, someone out there please enlighten me! I just put in mixed lots, wet them, put holes in the bags and wait! ;D  DP

Hugh_Jones:
The best leaves are beech and oak (not necessarily in that order) but often take a bit longer to break down. The worst is the London plane tree.  Ash prunus and birch are about mid-table. However, all deciduous leaves are valuable - it`s simply that some produce a lot less leafmould than others.

Basically speaking 5cu. feet of leaves will compress down to 3 cu. ft, and will then rot down to 2cu ft.  If you have jammed the leaves tightly into the bags (and watered them well) your 10 binbags should produce about 4 of leafmould.

As to how many you should try to squeeze in, do like the bargain supermarkets - cram them in and stack them high. The more the merrier.

campanula:
Fantastico! I thought Beech was a no-no so marched past huge piles of absolutely glorious coppery beech leaves. Am off to the graveyard (where I have been collecting) to fill another 20 bags. Whoopeee.

legless:
what now? its dark, you might get arrested hanging round graveyards at night!!

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