Any well-rotted organic after makes a good mulch, but if you do not own a compost bin or do not want to pay the expense to order local green waste from your local council, a great alternative can be leaf made compost from your very own leaf mould bin.
One of mother nature's best autumn gifts is currently getting ready to fall from the sky right about now. Anyone taking the autumn leather into a bonfire or transporting to the dump is missing a great trick. They are throwing out an invaluable soil conditioner which opens up clagging clay and helps lighter soils hold on to moisture, all for free.
Leaves however rot down slightly differently to their garden waste. In a compost heap, bacteria does most of the work, turning green waste into black gold. But leaves need fungi to decompose, so it's a much slower process which needs plenty of air and not quite so much warmth. Which is why you need to keep your leaves separate from your compost bin.
How to make your own leaf mould bin:
Knick four 1.5m fence posts into the ground to make a square of your choosing size (ideally 1.3m along each side but no smaller than 60cm);
Nail chicken wire onto the posts using U-bend staples;
Start filling;
Treed down your leaves as you go and damp them down thoroughly;
Leave to rot down for one year if you’re using the leaf mould for mulch, or two years for fine textured seed compost.
See more inspiration leaf mould bins below:
