Be very conservative about how much of the tea leaves you use in the garden. Camellia sinensis has allelopathic properties known to affect the germination of certain seeds as well as some species of trees. Composting them for several weeks before adding them to the garden might be a good idea, if you're talking about a LOT of tea leaves. Or add what you want this fall but don't continue the practice in the spring.

You have me concerned re your caveat on the use of tea leaves in a perennial garden. I just assumed that after having been steeped in boiling water the leaves would be in the perfect form for direct use in a garden (ie not composted).

You may find some of the info from this discussion applicable to your situation. Scroll down to the two Oct. 12 entries from tapla/Al.

rouge, the excellent conversation included by purple is focused on containerized plants. Your situation is quite different unless you are using (as I mentioned) a LOT of the tea leaves and are using them continually. Also, I believe that the discussion was geared to the leftover liquid tea and not the spent tea leaves. Much of the caffeine and other 'stuff' is in that tea rather than the tea leaves, after steeping in boiling water as you've suggested. Still, I'd be conservative and not use bucketloads of the stuff.

Allelopathic properties of plants break down over time, which can work to your benefit. If you used the tea grounds in your garden this fall, I wouldn't worry about it at all.

Put them on the compost heap and don't worry. Tea leaves and bags (only the paper ones, obv.) are a national compost requirement here.

I appreciate the posts.

I don't have a compost pile....there is no room on my property unless I remove some garden. So the usual routine is to distribute the wet, boiled leaves around plants (tea leaves from personal use). When I have a large amount of tea as obtained from the tea shop I try to mix these wet spent leaves in some good but small amount of triple mix (say 30L) and then distribute around the base of each plant.

How big is your 'property' rouge21? Is it smaller than my 10 feet x 15 feet? If not I'm sure you can find a composter to fit. Can you see mine? (Clue - there's a red and white paper flour bag on the top.)

{{gwi:8152}}

It's a wooden slatted box behind a shrub and copes with all garden and household waste except large prunings which I reluctantly allow the council to take away.

Bird's eye view of my entire 'property' last winter. The shed marks the end of our plot garden and fills the entire width. The creeper in the foreground is around the top bedroom window from where the photo was taken. If a compost bin will fit in here I think one will fit in just about anywhere.

{{gwi:316218}}

I am a very avid gardener but I am embarrassed to say that I do not have a composter. I have a small very residential yard and all space is being 'used'...by plants!

UPDATE:

It is interesting how one can find space for things that one wants to find space for ;).

I went from none to 6 individual composters on the same small property. Thanks for your encouragement. Picture to come.

Congratulations!

There is another thread on the front page about someone squeezing a chicken wire cylinder in the middle of a planting bed. The idea is that it will feed the soil underneath while it's composting, and you can move it to a different spot for the next batch. I was going to suggest that as I was reading through the earlier part of this thread, but I see you have it worked out.

Perhaps the underlying principle here is that having a way to recycle organic matter back into the garden is an essential part of the garden itself, just as soil and plants and mulch and borders and fences would be. Whether you do it with a compost bin, sheet composting, burying kitchen scraps, or some other method, every garden should have a recycling system built in.

Yes, pictures please!