KILDARE WILDLIFE WATCH: How to make use of Autumn leaves

It is that time of year again when my garden and drive are starting to get covered in the orange, red, yellow and brown colours of falling autumn leaves.

I know I have shared before the value of autumn leaves with you all, but it is also no harm to remind ourselves of how that can help our gardens.

With large trees along the boundary of my home many of the autumn leaves I will gather and put in the brown bin for collection, but some I will be keeping.

Autumn leaves are full of carbon and act as a brown or drier material that can be added to your compost heap along with the greener, nitrogen rich garden clippings.

Composting grass on its own leads to your heap becoming smelly and inactive as the wet nature of this material means their is little oxygen, which inhibits your decomposers, including worms and soil bacteria, from breaking down the material into a fertile compost to be used in flower and vegetable beds.

It is easy to store leaves you can choose to pack them into bags, tie the top, punch a few air holes and leave them behind the garden shed until you need them next year.

Alternatively you can make a wire mesh frame to store your leaves and once filled cover your leaf heap with a piece of cardboard to keep them damp.

Over the next few months the leaves will begin to break down but will be perfect to add to your compost heap next spring and throughout the summer.

You might even decide to store the leaves for longer allowing them to break down into what is known as leaf mould.

You will still be able to recognise the leaves, but after two years they will make an ideal mulch as leaf mould suppresses weeds and locks moisture into the soil.

If you have not done so in the past why not store them and try for yourself this autumn.

If you come across a wildlife species that you would like help identifying contact me at [email protected].