Finally I´ve done it. I´ve swept up the billions of fallen leaves, mostly walnut, popped them in black plastic bags, punctured them with air holes and stuck them away to rot for a year or two. Couldn´t be simpler.
It makes a great mulch (top layer to suppress weeds and improves fertility) or dig it in as a soil enricher. Leaves can be added to the compost pile or worm bag but not all at once, so it´s easier to shove them all in bags and forget about them. They ought to be decomposed or semi-decomposed before dug into the soil and should not be added to compost piles in one huge lot.
My worm bag has no lack of weeds and kitchen scraps so the leaves, and there are a lot, aren´t really needed there (and there´s too many to add in one go). It´s not a big job and I should sweep up the leaves that fall daily at this time of year anyway and having a bin liner to empty the dustpan or shovel into saves time and trips to the compost heap.
I try to vary the mix of leaves adding whatever else is available too, the ones there are plenty of is olive leaves. They take a lot longer to rot down so I don´t add those, they could be kept seperate though.
I also have a fair few oleanders, but don´t like to add those leaves as every part of the plant is posionous - must find out if they can be used or not!
If you´d like to know more about composting with worms or want to know where to buy red worms in Spain leave me a comment or drop me a line.
