It’s time for Terry Walton to collect fallen leaves
It’s such a therapeutic job to do and eventually brings the best reward
Alight weight job I love doing on a dry day is gathering leaves, which I find very therapeutic. They’re so bulky but so light it’s an easy job for anyone. The leaves of beech, oak and elm make the finest leaf mould but don’t discriminate too much as most make a valuable addition to the soil.
The ones to avoid, if given them, are the leaves of evergreens. I know, these don’t fall off but many people trim bushes at this time of year and think as a passionate, organic gardener you’ll want them. Politely decline!
When you’ve finished your collection you can either corral leaves in a small area with chicken wire or leave them in the bags, which should be punctured with a garden fork to allow air to circulate and moisten the leaves a little. My secret ingredient is a sprinkling of hydrated lime to accelerate the decomposition. The same applies to those in the little wire fence. The one thing that never ceases to amaze me about this large pile of leaves is that almost before your very eyes it diminishes to a fraction of its volume. The same thing used to occur with the bracken I used to collect in my younger days. A huge mountain of this stuff used to decrease to a very small mound.
But the upside of this easy piece of toil is that this rich, crumbly compost that’s left is one of nature’s finest soil improvers.
The life of an organic gardener is one of a strong relationship with the soil. There are no quick-fix solutions but rather a long association to ensure maximum fertility. You somehow want to run your hands through this rich soil and I’m sure you can smell the goodness locked in there.
The organic gardener also has to ensure good crop rotation so not to overuse parts of the soil with greedy crops. The build-up of pests and diseases will also play a big part in rotation to ensure there’s at least three years between planting of each range of plants to ‘fool’ these enemies. These groups fall into the three categories – legumes, brassicas and root crops – and each has its own unique soil preparation. To ensure this occurs and while this year’s cropping is still foremost in my mind, I draw up my 2019 plan. This is my bible for next year, although some slight variations may occur. In my shed are the plans from time immemorial!
With winter gradually closing in I have to take my marrows indoors to use over the next few months. The skins on these have set very firmly so they’ll keep for some time. I make room in my home shed to house these as it’s frost free and cool and airy.