Keeping Leaves off the Lawn in Autumn - why not make Leaf Mould?

Leaves can spell doom for lawns if they are left on the lawn for any length of time. Under the leaf blanket the grass plants are deprived of light and therefore will thin and die off, the leaves as they decompose are also very attractive to worms and will encourage the surface feeders to come up and caste on the lawn too which can lead to the grass leaves being smothered when these casts are squashed by the mower or your feet. We encourage our clients to mow weekly in October, and the great news is that if you have a rotary mower you can simply mow over the top and hoover the leaves up whilst giving your lawn a trim!

Weekly leaf removal is essential even after the weather turns cooler and you wouldn't normally need to mow. This can feel like a rather relentless task as some trees seem to take forever to get on with it - the Oak being normally the last to let go.

One of the things that I love to do with my leaves is to make leaf mould.

Somewhow the idea that I am creating wonderful compost for the years to come makes clearing up the leaves in my garden so much less of a chore. I use black plastic bags with holes in as I have a typical london garden with not much space and once ready I stash them behind the shed where they can happily rot down out of sight.

There are some great reasources for info on how to make leaf mould out there on the internet, but I thought that it might be good to have a list of my 4 top picks:

1. Super list here of how to treat the different leaf types and a section on the problems you might encounter: https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=478

2. Great Video here by Monty Don: http://www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/projects/creative-projects/how-to-make-leaf-mould/191.html

3. Interesting info here on the uses of Leaf mould from a great enthusiast: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/gardenprojects/10801542/Make-leaf-mould-the-cornerstone-of-your-gardening.html

4. Thinking about making a leaf mould bin? Here's a how to: http://www.greenfingers.com/articledisplay.asp?id=347