How to Make Leaf Mold

By Alex N

Leaf mold is like hair conditioner for your soil! - basically its best attribute is to help your soil retain water. According to some university studies, the addition of leaf mold increased water retention in soils by over 50%. Leaf mold also improves your soil's structure and creates a lovely habitat for soil life, including earthworms and healthy bacteria. Clever eh?

Interesting fact: Leaves are basically carbon

Top tips

Pile up your leaves in an unobtrusive corner of the garden (or you can put them in bags - but make sure you put aeration holes in it)
Speed up the leaves' rate of decomposition by running a lawn mower over the pile a few times.
Make sure they are kept damp
Turn your pile every few weeks with a garden fork or spade to hurry up decomposition

Alex N

I'm passionate about online learning, and lucky enough to work for Learning with Experts. Most recent course: The Pie Shop with River Cottage's Tom Morrell. Next course: Container Gardening with Chris Beardshaw.

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