Composting Autumn Leaves
Collect fallen leaves for leaf-mould. Store moist leaves in black plastic bags and after a year or so you’ll have a rich, crumbly mulch your plants will love.
Much as I love autumn, I do dread picking up all the leaves. It’s never ending, especially when you live at the end of a wind tunnel like we do. But great things can come of all that hard work. Here’s how to turn those damp leaves into a rich mulch for your garden:
Stack your leaves in a wire mesh compost bin
You can mix a few leaves into your compost heap, but too many will make the compost slimy. You’re better off stacking large quantities separately, using a wire mesh bin to keep them tidy. You can easily cobble together a wire mesh compost bin by wrapping chicken wire around four supporting stakes. The secret is not to let the leaves dry out, so you should sprinkle them with a little water during dry periods, or turn them occasionally to mix wet leaves with dry.
Pack leaves into black plastic bags
If you have a smaller garden you can fill black plastic bin liners with your leaves. Rake them up just after rain so they’re nice and moist and pack them into the bags. Tie the bags at the top and pierce them to encourage air to circulate. Alternatively, you can use biodegradable leaf sacks. Stack the bags somewhere out of the way and forget about them for at least a year while the leaves break down into a rich, crumbly leaf-mould. Some leaves take longer to decompose than others. You’ll find, for example, that oak, hornbeam and alder leaves will take longer to break down than sycamore, chestnut and beech. Avoid using evergreen leaves for leaf-mould because they take too long to break down.
Good things come to those who wait
Although leaf-mould takes longer to make than compost, once you’ve packed the leaves in a wire mesh bin or plastic bags you can just leave them alone. After a year to eighteen months you’ll have a rich, crumbly mulch, which you can either spread around the plants and borders in your garden, dig in as a soil improver, or mix with your potting compost.
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Bokashi Troubleshooting
You’ve embarked on your bokashi composting adventure, you’re feeling good about your green credentials, but to your dismay, your bokashi bin leaks. This is what to do:
My Bokashi Bin Leaks! How do I Fix It?
This is a problem for two reasons:
1. It smells bad
2. The composting process is anaerobic; a leaking bin means air can get in and your waste may not ferment properly.
So, what do you do?
Well, you need a two pronged attack – fix the leak and reduce the juice. If, after that, your bokashi bucket still leaks, you’ll need to replace the tap’s washers.
1. Fix the leak
Assuming the leak is coming from the tap at the base of the unit, the likelyhood is that the silicon seal isn’t doing its job. Remember, it should only be finger tight. Any tighter and the washer may stretch. You can’t access the nut without first removing the waste, so try to tighten it by turning the tap clockwise. If this doesn’t work, try applying some silicone sealant to where the tap joins the bokashi bin. Otherwise, I’m afraid, it’s a case of removing the waste, replacing the seals and making sure the nut is only finger tight.
2. Reduce the juice
You can easily reduce the amount of juice your bokashi bin produces by only adding dry material. Avocado skins, egg shells, potato peelings and bread crusts, for example, won’t produce much liquid. Fruit scraps like pineapple peelings and apple cores, and tea bags do produce a lot of juice, and for now at least, should go straight on the compost heap, or dug directly into the garden. While your bin is drying out, stand it on a tray just in case there is any further leakage.
3. Replace the washers
The tap screws on to the bokashi bucket and a rubber washer should be placed on both the inside and the outside of the unit. If the nut holding the tap is too tight, the washer may stretch and the seal will be broken. Consider replacing the washers with good quality washing machine inlet hose washers to ensure a water tight seal. You can buy a set of six from Homebase or B&Q for about £1.20. These won’t stretch, which means you can tighten the nut more than you could with the standard issue silicone washers. Once the tap is in position, fill the bucket with water and test for leaks before adding your next batch of bokashi compost.
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Click here for more information on how to get the best out of your bokashi composter.
