Leaves and more leaves

Thursday 15th December
This week I have had to sort out huge amounts of leaves donated by neighbours at home and on site. I had already filled my leaf mould bin and my builder's bag so checked online and found a source of 'misprint' bags at £2.50 each if I ordered 10. They came yesterday and I was pleased to find they were smaller than the normal 1 metre cube so will be easier to lift and move when full.
So today I have fetched 4 huge bags in my trailer from my neighbour at home and packed the contents into a row of my bags. When I added the leaves in large plastic bags given to me by a nearby plotter I finished up with 5 bags filled with compressed leaves stacked next to my bin which I expect will decompose down into the one bin during the next year or so. That means I will have 2 cubic metres of leaf mould to use in 2018. Last year's leaves should be ready next autumn in 2017 but will be a bit less than this year's batch.
In between humping bags of leaves around I also repaired an old gate and removed the old catch ready to hang it from the gate posts I set in concrete yesterday. I was very pleased, and a bit surprised, to find the gate fits perfectly between the posts. I just have to buy and fit the hinges and catch now. It will be a great improvement over the two pallets I have been using to close my entrance for the last few years.
Harvesting has given a few surprises. Whatever has been nibbling my Swedes has turned its attention to my parsnips and a cauliflower. Yesterday I lifted a beautiful parsnip that had been nibbled at the top and pulled the damaged cauliflower together with its neighbour which I dare not leave to be attacked. I put down containers with rat/mouse poison and set rat traps inside plastic milk bottles with both ends removed. Today the poison bait had been taken but no traps had been tripped. My parsnips have had a light sprinkling of paraffin hoping to deter the attackers!