Peter Dowdall: Compost turns fallen leaves from what we once called rubbish into riches

'In the wild, no one gathers up the fallen leaves or hauls them to the dump. They’re left to return to the soil. By spring, they’ve become humus that feeds roots, fungi, and insects' 

In the wild, once the autumn leaves have fallen, no one gathers them up or hauls them away; they're left to settle and return to the soil. File picture

I love the autumn. The colours changing, the air cooling, the garden softening. There’s a gentleness about it, a sense that the hustle and bustle of summer is giving way to a slower, more reflective tempo in the garden in the landscape and in life in general.

Recently, I was driving with my daughter, and I was drawing her attention to the stunning foliage colours of the trees ahead. “Look at that, aren’t those colours just amazing?” I said, reminding myself of my own parents. Then, she replied, “Yes, the colours are lovely, Dad, but I don’t like it. It means all the leaves are dying.”