Autumn leaves are nature's own soil improver, recycling nutrients and adding the humus that plants need to thrive. Fallen leaves in autumn are a valuable resource in the garden - they can be composted, gathered under hedges as shelter for wildlife, or turned into leaf mould.

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Find out how to collect autumn leaves.

Fibrous, moisture-retentive and free-draining, leaf mould is useful in potting composts and for mulching around border plants. Watch our video on making leaf mould.

It's best to mix leaves of a similar type together, so that they rot down at the same speed.

Read our advice on the different types of autumn leaves and how best to use them, below.

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Leaves that are quick to break down

Leaves that are low in fibrous lignin and high in nitrogen and calcium will produce leaf mould within a year. Add directly to a mesh bin or bagged without chopping.

Leaves to use: ash, beech, birch, cherry, elm, hornbeam, lime, oak, poplar, willow

Making leaf mould

Leaves that are slow to break down

Trees with large, tough leaves that are high in lignin and low in nitrogen and calcium take 18-24 months to break down. Chop up with a mower or garden shredder.

Leaves to use: deciduous shrubs, hawthorn, maple, magnolia, sycamore, horse chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum)

Sycamore leaves

Conifers

A waxy resin coats the needles, so they take over a year to break down. Leave uncovered and mix every six to eight weeks. Moisten in dry weather, ideally using rainwater. Use to mulch or pot acid-loving plants.

Leaves to use: pines, conifers

Conifers

Evergreen leaves

Evergreen leaves also have a waxy coating and can stick together, slowing decomposition. Shredded, they rot down best in the heat of a mixed-ingredient compost bin or heap.

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Leaves to use: aucuba, bay, holly, laurel, photinia, rhododendron, skimmia

Aucuba japonica

Making leaf mould

Leaf mould can be made by storing leaves in a mesh bin, made of chicken wire pinned to wooden posts. Leaves should be moist, but not soaking wet, and must not be packed too tightly. Find out how to make a leaf mould bin. For smaller quantities, make leaf mould in plastic sacks - put moist leaves into plastic bin bags, loosely tied at the top and punched with holes in the sides.

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