Winter woodland walk

Since we have returned from New Zealand I have walked through our garden and woodlands most days. 
It is usually late afternoon before I start up the hill, well wrapped up against the cold with fleece and my wonderful possum hat from New Zealand.

Daylight is drawing out markedly now. I am still finding the mornings very dark, but the evenings are stretching nicely and it is now well after five before it is dark. Hoorah!

This late afternoon light is special.
We are having a quiet cold spell just now and the light on Loch Ness is great.
I always think of Loch Ness as steely grey and it looks wonderful, arctic cold glinting in moonlight and mirror glass calm by day. 

December was very wet and the footpaths are still greasy in places
The last of the leaves are brown and damp and the air is heavy with the humus smell of woodlands.
Bark and branch dominate the foreground, with pockets of dark holly and Blechnum spicant; the elegant hard fern; on dry banks.

Of course snow drops are through and the garden looks well, temperatures have not been below -4.  Fingers crossed.

M

Making leaf mould & a recipe for potting compost

Leaf mould is a lovely old fashioned term, and brings to mind old Estate gardens and poorly paid, overworked garden boys.  It often appeared as a magic ingredient alongside weathered soot and wood ash and ground up toe nails!

But for us it is a natural plentiful resource and a vital ingredient in our potting composts. Over the years we have steadily reduced the amount of peat in our mixes and leaf mould is really useful.

The native trees that shed their leaves for us are Hazel, Birch and Oak, and of course we are a garden and we also have lots of Maples, Cercidiphyllum , Chestnut and Larch.

The leaves fall onto beds and along the paths.
This make for easy pickings and any dry day from late October onwards, there is often someone out there, with a bucket, a rake and a collection old compost bags.

Rebecca hard at work with the rake

The leaves are poured out into compost bins constructed from wooden pallets and when we have a bumper year, we make wire netting cages to take them all.  

There they sit for 2 years, slowly mouldering.
Each leaf has its own characteristics.
Oak is tough and takes 2 years to rot down.
Hazel is much softer and takes a year to 18 months.

Inevitably there is the odd holly leaf in the mould. They are a pain, literally.  They are always a surprise, and take forever to rot so they retain all of their prickles. Again natures wee joke.

Leaf mould is also a great mulch, in fact it is nature’s mulch in our woodlands
We like to return some to the beds every year.

Here’s our recipe for general purpose potting compost

Sieved Leaf Mould 1/3^rd
John Innes No3 1/3^rd
Grit/Gravel 1/6^th depending on the plants to use it
Fibrous Compost 1/6^th to 1/3^rd (You could use peat, but there are now many more sustainable alternatives available)

^{Happy gathering,  M}

^{For more advice about the benefits of leaves read Donald's Autumn Blog from 2009}

^{Love Your Leaves}

Love your Leaves

With the deluge of rain and the hurricane like winds that Scotland has been bestowed this weekend, the leaves are all well and truely down.

For some with small gardens or few trees, leaves are no issue and they are free to enjoy the beautiful colours and fantabulous crunching sounds, but for us and for many others, picking up the leaves is a necessary and slightly tedious autumn task.

For ourselves this is not garden vanity, on the many woodland paths that we have, the layer of wet leaves can get rather slushy, slippery and dangerous for our customers, and on the borders they can form such a dense layer that it can hinder growth of plants. A further side benefit of clearing up your leaves; other than the excellent leaf-mold it creates; is the removal of a means of possible transfer of disease.
- Remember that compost from leaves can be very weed free, but you can sometimes get birch, ash or elder seedlings coming up.


Here are a few guidelines that may help you in your own garden gathering.


* In a small garden, add leaves in layers to your compost heap, with your other autumn gatherings, big clumps will not break down well.

* In a big garden, gather your soft leaves (Elder, Birch, Hazel, Ash..) in their own bin for 12 months, then use as a soil improver or in your own compost mixes. Harder leaves (Oak, Beech, Alder, Holly)will take two years to break down sufficiantly.


*Be careful when raking or hoeing in Autumn, as snowdrops and narcissus are just below the surface and can be damaged.


*Those who had a little autumn forethought can haul in the nets they spread earlier over ponds and add the contents to the compost heap, it is a good idea to re-net, as the wind blow can bring more leaves back in. The rest of us must either drain and clean the pond or get busy with the waders and the rake.
- And while we are on the subject of ponds, plants in established ponds can get lifted and divided, give away the excess, or pot some up and protect them from frost and they will go down a charm at the spring charity sales.


*While clearing up leaves it can be a good time to clean up dead stems, I tend to prefer to do this in late Feb, early March as it gives some winter protection if the weather is hard, but many people prefer now to get it over with.

* With only XX amount of days to Christmas, the fine holly berries may well be a temptation to birds before you are ready for them, so protect some bunches with fleece or net bags.