I worked outside all my life in the Southwest of England as a scaffolder. 16 years with my own business.So I have known many wet winters! However I never experienced a winter like 2020-21.What a nuisance it was. Autumn and Winter are the times I collect leaves in great quantity.Orders are minimal so I usually have plenty of time to do this chore and generally it is a pleasure.This Autumn/Winter was unbearable because obviously being wet is uncomfortable but also the leaves are much heavier. Perhaps the worst bit is sieving them to remove all rubbish. This is when they are all stuck together and slimy.I have long very thick rubber gloves for this job but they still feel revolting. After sieving we need to chop the leaves as small as possible,untill they look like a mulch.This does a lot of natures work in producing Leaf Mould and speeds the process up.It also makes a superior leafmould (I have to spell the keyword in two ways for the search engines.) It still takes best part of 2 years to final product. Keeping the piles of leaves cool is another problem but thankfully we have found various methods to do this, which is vital to the mould formation.These methods have to remain a trade secret. Spring is now underway and so far is looking quite promising weather wise.Do you think it is possible we could have another dry warm Spring like last year? Asking a lot I know! Having worked outside for so long I can tell you we have not had a Spring like that for very many years.At least in the SouthWest we have not.Strangely that Spring happened in the first ever Lockdown in my 66 years of life.So maybe miracles do happen after all. So how have I got on through this weather in boosting my Leaf Mould stocks.Pretty well actually! I gritted my teeth and ploughed on. So why do I not wear Wet Gear? Did you ask? Well the answer is that it is very hard work collecting leaves whilst sat in a wheelchair. Have you ever tried doing vigorous work in Wet Weather clothes? Your hot persperation condenses onto the Wet gear and thence onto Ones dry clothes! A most detestable state of affairs. Below is our own Acer seedling "Smokee" so called because of the smoky red tones in the Spring. Followed by deep purple leaves in summer and pure crimson in the Autumn.She is around 20 years old and around 13 feet high.We have many named Acer's in our garden which are very expensive to purchase but none of them have 3 seasons of colour like "Smokee"
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