Beech leaves for leaf mould

I use huge quantities of leaf mould. Having a variety of massive trees I am up to my eyeballs in leaves at this time of the year. Certainly a good proportion of the leaves are from 2 massive Copper Beech trees but also collect mounds of Sycamore and Ash. The ones on the grass I collect with the lawn tractor which also chops the leaves up which does aid the process.
This below is the area I use the tractor to collect leaves but there is about double this area where I cannot use the tractor so leaves have to be raked up…..quite a job!

The collected leaves are piled up and left uncovered for 2 years or sometimes longer. The resulting leaf mould I use it in all sorts of applications and apart from those plants that like a very limey soil all other plants seem to thrive in it. I use approximately 50% bought compost and 50% my leaf mould for things like buckets I grow tomatoes and cucumbers in. The leaf mould goes at the bottom as sure to have weed seeds in it and bought in which should be weed free ( isn’t always!) goes on top.
I grow a great many ericaceous plants like Rhododendron, Azalea and Camellia. I always plant using a good barrow full of leaf mould which I am sure helps when we have a hot and very dry summer like this last one. To me it is every bit as good as peat if not better. I never watered any established plants this summer and they all survived despite us having no rain at all for over 4 months.