…is Gold. Well, to gardeners anyway.

I made these two leaf mould bins from some plastic trellis and garden ties. I then filled them with the leaves from our trees and that of the tree on our nature strip.

For those of you who don’t know what leaf mould is, it’s just fallen leaves from deciduous plants that are stacked or packed in an open bin or bags and left to rot for a year or two. You add water to aid in the decomposition process. Unlike compost that is a product of bacterial activity, leaf mould is primarily fungal.

After one year you get a nice crumbly mix suitable for use all over the garden as a mulch and a soil improver.

After two years you get a rich dark mix which bears no resemblance to it’s original composition at all. This can be used as mulch or a soil improver as well as for a seed sowing and potting mix.

Apart from these two bins, I have 4 garbage bags which are packed full of leaves. When I say packed, I really mean packed and compressed so that these bags weigh about 6 kilograms each.

Think of Autumn leaves less as a nuisance but rather an organic and natural way to recycle what is given to you for free.

Read more "All that withers…"