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Quick question on a leaf mold pile
Chris Mason
Posts: 159
Quick advice on a leaf mold pile, What type of soil should I have under a leaf pile? I have heavy clay soil and in the particular area of the garden I wish to produce leaf mold it often becomes waterlogged even when its only light rain, would this be a problem?
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I don't think it'll be a problem - you need your leaf pile to be damp
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Doesn't matter in the slightest. Whatever you have will be improved by the leafmould the worms take in. The most important consideration is that it should be big - you will never have enough leafmould.
I've got two hippo bags and five hessian bags(I'll be using it as a mulch and a soil improver), it probably won't be enough but I've got a small garden so I'm not too worried.) thank you both of you for your help
I have always stored my leaves in black bin bags without any form of accelerator and had great leaf mould the following year but I saw in GW recently that they just put leaves on the compost heap. Does anyone else do this and do you find it beneficial to compost consistancy, it would save a lot of trouble.
It depends on the amount of leaves you have - a few in the compost heap would be fine. A lot would really slow down the decomposition.
I store mine in bin bags over the winter until the leaves have partially decomposed, then I add it in layers to the compost heaps throughout the following year - that works well for me.
We use recycled beer and cider as an activator in the compost heaps.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I find that mowing the leaves off of the lawn seems to help the decomposition. The mower chops them and any collected grass mixed in seems to help the rotting process.
I think it depends somewhat on the size of the heap and hence the temperature it reaches. Chopping them up with the mower (mind your fingers!) and mixing them well with an accelerator like grass or recycled booze certainly helps too.
Do you mean what I think you mean by recycled booze... ?
Yes he does.
There are quite alot of us using non eec approved compost accelerators. The subversive gardening group. The request to water the compost heap is also useful at parties. It leaves the indoor loo free for the ladies.
