An experiment with leaf mould...

[kippers garden]

Quite a while ago I read about someone who added grass cuttings to leaf mould.  They said it made the leaves rot down quicker, so I gave it a try it and I thought I'd tell you about the results:

I collected the leaves as normal last autumn and stored then, like I normally do.  In spring when we started to cut the grass, I put the grass clippings in with the leaves.  During the summer we actually only got round to mixing the grass/leaves 3 or 4  times, so I thought I hadn't really carried out the experient properly anyway.

I used the leaf mould this week over a couple of my beds and I've got to say I'm impress!  I'm sure if i'd turned it more it would have been even better.

I compared it to some of the same leaves i'd collected but without adding grass clipping too.  You can definately see the difference.

You can see the pictures I took here (about half way down the page):

http://notjustgreenfingers.wordpress.com/2012/10/12/dairy-egg-free-jam-tarts-and-leaf-mould/


I will definately be doing this again next year.

[kippers garden]

[Digeroo]

Many thanks for this suggestion.    Why do you wait until spring to add the grass, what about adding some in the autumn?  Actually a good idea to stop grass clippings turning into a soggy mess.

I have taken to burying leaves and then simply planting on top, a year later there are just loads of worms no sign of the leaves.  Or leaving piles of them on top of the soil and covering with straw, they just disappear.

[kippers garden]

Many thanks for this suggestion.    Why do you wait until spring to add the grass, what about adding some in the autumn?  Actually a good idea to stop grass clippings turning into a soggy mess.

It's only because I'd stop mowing the grass at the allotment when the council dropped the leaves at my allotment site and I started to mow again in the spring.

[Robert_Brenchley]

I dug in autumn leaves for the first couple of years I had my plot, and I soon realised that I was digging them up again the following year, apparently unchanged. Once they were back on the surface, they soon disappeared permanently. So these days I put down a mulch two or three inches think, and it all vanishes within six months.