If you leave them on the surface, some of them will be dragged down into the soil by the worms which speeds up the decomposition process, and is what occurs in nature, which is what we are trying to emulate.
How can you lie there and think of England When you don't even know who's in the team
Do you have a bagger on your mower? I mow the leaves over to collect them up and pile them on boarders and the veg beds.. it's usually nearly gone by spring planting time, worked into the soil by worms and critters. It also greatly speeds up the leaf mould process, if you are so inclined.
Are Sycamore leaves ok to leave on borders? I get a whole tree's worth from a neighbour. I am in the garden every day at the moment trying to keep them off the lawn. tia
I do a three way process with leaves. Ones that fall on the garden stay there but the rest are chopped up and either put back on the garden as mulch or saved to make leaf mould or add to the compost heap later on. By chopping them up it speeds things up quite a lot and makes it easier for the critters to do their job. It's also been mentioned a lot before that by chopping them up you make it easy for water to penetrate into the soil, which builds resistance during dry periods. If you remove the top layer of leaves in a pile you can often see that underneath they are dry, so by chopping them up I can add more as mulch without a problem.
Do you have a bagger on your mower? I mow the leaves over to collect them up and pile them on boarders and the veg beds.. it's usually nearly gone by spring planting time, worked into the soil by worms and critters. It also greatly speeds up the leaf mould process, if you are so inclined.
I do but I neglected to do this. I'd collected the leaves in bags over a period of time and didn't fancy pouring them back out onto the lawn again, but that is a good idea
Anyone else get a lot of woodlice in their gardens? Wondering if I'm creating a habitat for them with the leaves. Or it might be because we have a lot of oak trees around, although not sure why that would be related. Trees seem to bring everything to the party-not complaining. Not that I mind them but they do get in the house. Probably find several a week especially in the summer. I don't think they cause any harm from what I can tell.
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When you don't even know who's in the team
S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
I have a compost heat but throw all the fallen leaves onto the border.
"Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."