Wednesday 6 December 2017

From Plant Material To A Dark, Crumbly Leaf Mould/Compost


Turning The Leaf Pit Contents, Grass, Plant Material and Leaves (Photo From Nov 2015)

Twelve months ago the cut down perennial plants, and the dug up annual plants from the herbaceous border, were taken to one of the large, open leaf pits in the college grounds. This plant material was added to last summer's grass cuttings and last autumn's leaves that had been gathered up by the team by raking, rotary and ride-on mowing. Since then the leaf pit's contents have been turned every month to introduce air into the pile and to encourage the many micro-organisms to break it down and turn it into leaf mould/compost. Twelve months later the contents of the pit have now been returned to the herbaceous border from where some of it came from but now it is a dark, crumbly leaf mould/compost which will be applied as a mulch.


The Border Awaits


Digging Out The Leaf Pit Contents, Now A Dark Crumbly Leaf Mould/Compost

Loading Up The Trailer

With the aid of the bucket attachment on the New Holland tractor the contents of the pit are dug out and loaded into the awaiting trailer.

Unloading The Leaf Mould/Compost


Once at the herbaceous border the leaf mould/compost is shovelled out in to wheel barrows, taken on to the border, tipped out and, using a garden fork, is spread out over the soil as layer of mulch. At the end of the day, and having spread six trailer loads of leaf mould/compost, the border had been mulched for another year. 

Spreading The Leaf Mould/Compost


A Mulched Herbaceous Border For Another Year

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