Topic: If I do this will I go to jail?

[tottieheed]

Hi again

I have very wet, heavy clay soil on my new allotment and would like to set about improving it asap. Having sifted through the previous posts re clay soil I am of the understanding that I now need to truck in as much manure and leaf mould as possible.

I have an almost unlimited supply of horse manure, all well rotted, but no leaf mould so my question is…

Is it illegal to be going into the woods and helping myself to the leaf mould/compost like floor covering?

Has anyone ever done this or am I a total plonker for even thinking about it? Mrs Tottieheed certainly thinks I am!

I know that the woods don't belong to me, so I guess that I would be stealing, but surely not as bad as helping myself to stuff out of someones skip which seems to be OK with most.

Thanks again for reading.

[Pescador]

If you've got horse manure, then thats all you need, you dont't need both.
You can't go into someonelses business and steal their raw materials; and you don't need to!
Mrs Tottiehead has got it right.
It won't all happen overnight, but it will work.

[pumkinlover]

I phoned the council and had a load of leaves delivered to the allotment site- it saved them driving 20miles to where it normally goes. So it may be worth an ask. You will not get leaf mold though, just leaves.

[Unwashed]

Tottieheed, as a rule taking anything that isn't actually yours is stealing and I'm pretty sure that's the case here.  You have a very limited common law right to take wild fruit but that's just about it.  If every gardener went into public woods and took away leafmould the woods would be in a terrible state because the leafmould is all part of the ecosystem.

[saddad]

and you will get tree seedlings coming up everywhere...  :-X

[cornykev]

As said the manure will be fine on it's own.   ;D

[Hi_Hoe]

Taking leaf mould ??? :o

Rape, murder, burglary, car jacking, serious fraud, drugs offences - all these may just get you a stern telling off these days - but stealing leaf mould? ? ? woe betide you.....

 ;D

[pumkinlover]

Maybe you could ask for community service-





- collecting fallen leaves!

Sorry :-[ :-[ I'll get me coat....

[gazza1960]

Oh Tottieheed,your a fella after me own heart,When I go sea angling and have the mrs in toe shes always naggin at me...."wait till dark",oooer me thinks.......but no...its not,im on a promise.... :(  shes more concerned with the Hampshire county council carting me off for removing the odd bag of seaweed(Gold dust) from the shoreline
...I kid you not at one particular spot there is tonnes rotting on the shoreline so Gazzers in there tootsweet....I dont interfear with the local eco system so I dont think you removing a few leaves is gonna upset the balance of nature in the wider scheme of things....like all things though,respect the area your taking from,or if in doubt,ring your council and tell em like it is for a definative answer.

Gazza

[Robert_Brenchley]

A little is unlikely to be noticed, but I wonder whether you could come to an ageement with the landowner? Some friends of mine used to have permission to collect fallen branches from local forestry commission woods for, if I remember right, a small fee. Alternatively, collect fallen leaves from somewhere, and pile them up to rot.

[flitwickone]

to be honest i would leaf it out  ;D and go for the manure but that might just be me talking sH&^e

[Aden Roller]

Maybe you could ask for community service-


- collecting fallen leaves!

Sorry :-[ :-[ I'll get me coat....

 :D :D :D

Leaf it out!!

Try the local council or even the local schools! Sounds mad but we were grateful when a local gardener offered to come into our grounds (when the children were not out to play) and clear the fallen leaves away.

Every autumn we had drifts blowing in through the doors so were happy to see them removed for free - so was the caretaker.  ;)

There were only so many sacks full I could get to my lottie on my bike  ;)

[powerspade]

Just about 50 yards from house is a wooded area owned by the Council. I used to get about 40 bags of leaves every year to make leaf mould for my plot. The last time I was bagging leaves I got arrested by a policewoman for stealing. After taking me the to the local cop shop I explained that to steal is to deprive someone of their property or goods and since the Council owned the woods and also owned the allotment I was not stealing but moving bags of leaves from one council owned site to another. I was given a caution and told not to do it unless I had permission from the Council.  

[Aden Roller]

Just about 50 yards from house is a wooded area owned by the Council. I used to get about 40 bags of leaves every year to make leaf mould for my plot. The last time I was bagging leaves I got arrested by a policewoman for stealing. After taking me the to the local cop shop I explained that to steal is to deprive someone of their property or goods and since the Council owned the woods and also owned the allotment I was not stealing but moving bags of leaves from one council owned site to another. I was given a caution and told not to do it unless I had permission from the Council.  

Thanks for posting this.... useful for others to help them make well informed choices and a warning about risks.

It amazes me that our police forces have time to be so thorough in their approach to enforcing the law. Stolen leaves?

In our area there have been times when it has taken them nearly an hour to attend an urgent call out leaving lone staff to sit it out or enter buildings where burglary has been suspected.

Priorities or just chance I wonder?

[cornykev]

It wasn't any old copper though, this one was from special BRANCH, sorry someone had to do it.   :D :D :D      :-X

[Aden Roller]

It wasn't any old copper though, this one was from special BRANCH, sorry someone had to do it.   :D :D :D      :-X

I think he was barking up the wrong tree  ;)

[antipodes]

LLLOOOLLLL

But seriously, it's not so much the criminal aspect: woods only get nourishment from their mulch - so by taking leaves from the woods you are harming them.
Next year get organised in autumn - look out for huge piles that have been tidied up by the council, or blown into car parks etc. In November I got several bags full of leaves just by raking up a grassy patch next to our flats. I didn't need to go anywhere near a park or wood, as there are so many leaves that are just a nuisance in urban areas. I used them to mulch the fruit beds, all the permanent plantations and there is more or less none left now...

[Old bird]

I am one of the origiinal "borrowers" and have taken seaweed from the beach, leaves and leaf mould from the woods etc.

There is pretty much no food value for plants in leaf mould.  their main value is the density and the mulching of land that is their use.  Once rotted down they create part of a beautiful system for growing stuff but nothing will grow just in "leaf mould" which is why under trees there is bare leaves not an abundance of green.  The food value is the added manure and with the two combined you have a magnificent growing system.  So you would not be depriving the trees of their leaf mould food source as there is no food in the rotted leaves!!  I have taken many bag loads of the rotted down stuff and laid in on beds which act purely as a mulch and nothing much grows up from the mulch but it is useful for keeping the moisture in.

Seaweed now there's another thing - but unfortunately here in Minehead it is not around for a lot of the time and I am currently waiting for a storm or the tides changing to bring some in!

Old Bird

[gazza1960]

Hmmm  I was fishing your back door in January Old Bird and scoured all your shore line as it had been windy/stormy with a NNW west and it was devoid of any seaweed,
the fishing was poooo too...but I did get to see the RNLI launch right next to me on the slipway at night which made for a bit of entertainment.

pssssttt......I go to Lilstock now on a big tide at low water and there is ample bladderwrack I just ask the farmer if I can drive down to the beach and hes ok with that.

Its a rich source of mucilage, algin, mannitol, beta-carotene, zeaxanthin, iodine, bromine, potassium, volatile oils, and many other
minerals and the Tommies luv it in their feed bottle,and neat still salted the Filderkraut cabbages dont get so much attention from the slugs.

Gazza

[digmore]

Beware of leaves, if they are not rotted down completely, they may contain club root as we found out this year.

Leaves are a minimum 12 mth project. Just keep adding compost around where you are planting and slowly over the years the soil condition will improve.

Digmore