1 common autumn item in garden is 'black gold' for your plants next year

Autumn is often the season when even the most enthusiastic gardeners begin to struggle. With the air colder, the rain often pouring, and less time in the day, gardening in autumn is rarely as enjoyable as in the summer.

One of the most tedious jobs for many is uncovering your once-pristine lawn buried under a mountain of soggy, fallen leaves.

You can spend hours raking them up, piling them high, and wonder why you ever planted so many trees in the first place. It feels like a never-ending battle.

But it doesn't have to be like that, by understanding the benefit of certain autumn jobs, it can make them much more motivating - especially when you know how good it will make your plants look come next spring.

Those heaps of leaves that seem like a nuisance are actually one of the most valuable resources your garden will ever produce.

While most people bag them up for the council to collect or stuff them into the garden waste bin, one gardening expert has come out to highlight how good composting can be, claiming they create gardening "black gold".

The task is simple: use your fallen leaves to create leaf mould, a nutrient-rich, crumbly compost that can take a bit of time to form but your plants will absolutely love.

Posting to TikTok green-fingered experts at Gardeners World said: "It's that time of year when the leaves are going to drop and rather than think of it as a nuisance and raking them up, what you can do is put straight onto your border or into the compost where they can break down naturally there to create leaf mould, which is a gardeners' black gold to have for next year."

Over the winter, they'll break down naturally, enriching the soil, feeding the worms, and protecting plant roots from frost. It saves you spending on mulch, and come the spring, you'll start to see the benefits.

The experts also have an option if you prefer something tidier. Bag the leaves up and let nature do the work for you.

Simply pop the leaves into black bin bags, sprinkle a little water to keep them moist, then tie the tops loosely and pierce a few small holes for airflow.

Store the bags in a shady corner, and then simply forget about them for a while. By spring and summer 2026, if you can wait that long, you'll open the bags to find a soft, dark, earthy material that smells like the forest floor. That's your leaf mould and is some of the best compost you can get around, plus it's free.

So, next time you're tempted to chuck out the leaves scattered across your lawn, think again.