OK to Use Semi Decomposed Leaves as Mulch?

dogstarheaven

I've just got down a good layer of this onto my raised bed where i've got runners, french beans and peas growing. I've carefully avoided touching the bottom leaves of the plants with the much so hopefully this will keep the moisture down this summer. Also, in the bed, i've put in raw green waste in the trench of these plants about 6wks ago. I've tried to chop the deciduous tree leaves down to a finer texture, but that was taking forever to do, so leaving them as they are won't cause any harm to my growing plants....

any advice?;)

Kay_Peel

It's ideal mulching material.

The only trouble you might find is that the leaves get crusty and start to fly off. My half-rotted leaves are all matted and bound together, but I still have to put a bit of soil on top of them to keep them in place.

[Deleted User]

Tzk tzk, just an excuse so you don't have to tidy up your beds

Jokes apart, no it's good. But I have OCD and my beds need to look tidy, so no leaves in my garden...

dogstarheaven

well, i would have done this a long time ago but w/o my own trees and transport to help myself from woods, i thought this was the next best thing. i got this from a friend's lottie where there were a massive pile of leaves left rotting. there wasn't any that were properly decomposed, so with what i could carry back on the bus, i managed only 2 carrier bags worth. the 1st bag were put on the beans bed as they were, and the 2nd bed where my leaf veggies are, are chopped down to a fine mulch-y texture. it seems extreme, but i do feel v frustrated not being able to make my own mulch. i doubt if taxis would want to transport bags of leaves in their boot, but i do feel leafmould is one of the best mulches to use. i have old compost bags that i'd love to fill up with leaves from the lottie, but can i ever get anyone to help me? poor me!