Yesterday I emptied three sacks of black, crumbly leaf mould onto my borders. It felt good; the sacks had been taking up space behind my shed for two years and it was nice to see the end result. It wasn't long before the local blackbird had spotted the fresh layer of partially-rotted leaves, and was picking through them for the worms that had set up home in the sacks.

The leaves came from the local park. Every autumn, men armed with blowers arrive, and create huge leaf piles for a big machine to suck up and take away. I always fill a few bags to use in the garden (with permission, of course). Leaf mould is an amazing thing. It's not particularly nutritious, but it has almost magical qualities, lacing the soil with fungi to aid the absorption of nutrients. It also looks good, all black and moist on the soil's surface. And it's fantastic for wildlife. In woodland, leaves fall from trees, and hedgehogs, small mammals, amphibians and countless insects shelter among them, while fungi slowly breaks the leaves down. Blackbirds and thrushes peck through them, looking for grubs, worms and insects. Left beyond winter, leaf litter offers nesting opportunities for hedgehogs and bumblebees, as well as a habitat for detrivores such as worms and woodlice, which feed on the decaying matter. Ground beetles, amphibians and other predators may use the heap to hunt the detrivores.

The easiest way to recreate this process in your garden is to gather fallen leaves from your lawn and sweep them under your hedge or to the back of your borders. You can also make a wire cage for your leaves, using wooden posts and chicken wire. Worms, beetles and other invertebrates will be able to access the pile easily, while a gap at the bottom will also enable hedgehogs, small mammals and amphibians to get in and out. But, if you don't have room, simply gather the leaves in sacks, as I do, pop them behind your shed for two years and then empty them over your borders. This isn't quite so good for hedgehogs, but you still get to watch birds feasting on the insects sheltering beneath the mulch, and it doesn't half do wonders for your soil.

Kate Bradbury edits Wild London magazine and writes for a number of publications including Guardian Weekend, Gardeners' World Magazine and Butterfly Magazine, and has a weekly blog on gardenersworld.com.