On 18/12/2013 18:31, Rod wrote:
On Tuesday, December 17, 2013 10:01:10 PM UTC, Stewart Robert Hinsley wrote:
On 17/12/2013 12:05, JohnWarden wrote:

I'm blessed 10 months of the year with a garden surrounded by lots of

very large, lovely trees. However, for 2 months of the year I'm deluged

with immense quantities of leaves that are dutifully collected and

eventually turned into huge mounds of leaf mould - lovely stuff.



My query relates to the leaves that fall into the beds and borders

(predominantly perennials and shrubs) and form a very nice snug

environment, much like mulching. Clearly, the leaf cover will protect

emerging shoots from frost, provide a habitat for beneficial insects and

toads, plus the mulching effect won't do any harm. However this snug

environment must also be great for slugs and snails - of which we get

plenty!



Does anyone have a definitive answer to whether it is better to leave

fallen leaves in the borders or to clear them all out? The lawns are

always kept reasonably clear to give the grass a fighting chance.



OTH I have a rather dry bed behind my workshop with reasonable light but under large conifers - spruces, firs etc remains of an abandoned
Christmas tree plantation decades ago. It's been difficult to get
anything much going there but I did plant a couple of Cyclamen
hederifolium corms
about 4 years ago and now there's a great swath of seedlings (many
100s) along the edge of the path growing through a thick layer of
conifer needles.
In my former work garden I had a border where cyclamen were naturalising under a large oak under a mulch of leaves.
Now when I retired the 'tidy police' got in there and scraped of the
leaves and all but the biggest cyclamen corms and now 7yrs later they
have all gone.
Same with candelabra prims and many other plants in the same border. So
I am always careful about removing leaves, only doing it if something is
obviously suffering and then looking carefully for desirable self sown
plants.

Rod


I remember some years ago at Dyffryn gardens they had fuchsias growing
in beds edged with box hedges about 15 inches tall around them.
In the Autumn the cut the fuchsias back hard then filled the beds with
leaves.
This provided insulation through the winter and then in the spring as
the leaves had rotted down a mulch for the fuchsias,
It worked.
David @ a very wet side of Swansea Bay