Leaf Mold - 32 cubic feet of

[redser]

Putting carbon in the soil (digging in) uses up any available nitrogen in the soil in its decomposition ~ which possibly could lead to depletion. Sometimes it never rots at all, due to anaerobic conditions (peat bog man springs to mind).
I've buried whole newspapers hoping that they act as a sponge, but they don't: they just sit in the soil, dry as a bone, not rotting down.

imo, it is always better to use mulches: any mulch traps water in the soil

Didn't think of the carbon thing, thanks. Good thing they are still in their bags.

[BUFFS]

i belong to the old school ,although it now takes me ages,i still dig down to the subsoil (3ft+) and as this old victorian patch was left neglected for years,it gets the contents of the compost bin,up to 12ins from the surface,then left for a week before folding the next trenches soil over it,it takes 4 years to do the complete patch,so it is ideal for planning the crop rotation,and you would not believe the size of the worms now,compared to when we started.if i had one of those shredders i might just give up the digging as it is getting harder,i once watched a worm pulling a leaf underground,brilliant but very slow...now if we could speed them up it would be magic..

[agnes]

Hi rusty lady, I am in Sussex not far from Eastbourne finding my way around this site is quite difficult any pointers please?

[redser]

If you click on the 'Forum' button at the top it will give you all the various subs-sections that you can browse.
The handiest thing I find, which I just recently discovered (doh), it to choose the 'Quick Links' drop-down button and then the 'Today's Posts' option. It gives you all the latest posts from all the sections. That way you wont miss/forget replies to your queries and questions
The search function can be a bit iffy, but if you go to the second page of results onwards the results tend to be more relevent to the item you are searching for. Welcome

[Two_Sheds]

i still dig down to the subsoil...it takes 4 years to do the complete patch

and you dare to call worms slow?

i once watched a worm pulling a leaf underground,brilliant but very slow...

That's the thing: they pull the stuff down: they don't do that if it's already buried.

If you have a damp surface to your soil, then a mulch, worm action will be very much increased. No four year dig required

How they do it

[alldigging]

If you have a damp surface to your soil, then a mulch, worm action will be very much increased. No four year dig required

Put a layer of mulch on damp soil (Is there any other kind at the moment) and then cover that up with something and you'll create a worm-happy environment where the worms can get on with pulling down all that mulch over winter. A little extra protection from the nasty weather will help.

Maybe just an extra thick layer of leaves as you have so many.

[hamamelis]

Is putting leaf mould on already fairly poor soil a good plan or not?

I'm still working out how to get my compost to, well, compost at a reasonable speed, but I do have access to an enormous pile of council leaf mould- about the size of my living room- but I'm not wholly sure what to do with it. Due to my allotment's previous owner having an odd grudge against topsoil, what I do have on some of the beds is very thin and nothing grows very well there. I'm already sticking leaf mould in the compost, but is it worth sticking it straight on the beds as well, or would that just make it worse?

I mainly use the stuff on the paths, and around the fruit bushes at the moment.

[alldigging]

Put it on thick! The worms will love it.


When you say grudge against topsoil what do you mean? Were they one of these who'd never compost a weed just throw it away instead?

[Farmer_Gyles]

i might get lucky enough to get a carrier bag full of leaves this year .... most of the leaves from my trees blow into other people's gardens ....

[VirginVegGrower]

i might get lucky enough to get a carrier bag full of leaves this year .... most of the leaves from my trees blow into other people's gardens ....

We get our own, the wood's and our neighbour's leaves...want some? Bring your rake!

[alldigging]

i might get lucky enough to get a carrier bag full of leaves this year .... most of the leaves from my trees blow into other people's gardens ....

In the Bob Flowerdew book he suggests going and raking leaves for your neighbours (and taking away the leaves of course) and also doing gardening jobs like mowing lawn (take the cuttings) etc for elderly neighbours. For free of course - he says you get the organic materials you want for compost or mulch and they get a tidy garden. And you might get cups of tea and cake.

[Two_Sheds]

Is putting leaf mould on already fairly poor soil a good plan or not?

Why would it be a bad plan? *puzzled*


Think about how forests work: every year the leaves fall, worms pull them down, beautiful topsoil is made, more huge massive trees grow. Some of them produce fruit, or nuts

No digging, no fertiliser, no nuffin.

[rustylady]

Is putting leaf mould on already fairly poor soil a good plan or not?

I'm still working out how to get my compost to, well, compost at a reasonable speed, but I do have access to an enormous pile of council leaf mould- about the size of my living room- but I'm not wholly sure what to do with it. Due to my allotment's previous owner having an odd grudge against topsoil, what I do have on some of the beds is very thin and nothing grows very well there. I'm already sticking leaf mould in the compost, but is it worth sticking it straight on the beds as well, or would that just make it worse?

I mainly use the stuff on the paths, and around the fruit bushes at the moment.

Don't waste it on the paths, for goodness sake. I take it you do mean well rotted leafmould, not fresh leaves.

[hamamelis]

I have an effectively infinite supply- it's hardly wasting it The council deliver it at a rate that the site can't keep up!

I was just wondering about putting on the poor soil 'cos someone mentioned it can strip nitrogen, and has very little in it- and I have precious little nitrogen in there due to the odd previous resident (still my neighbour), who not only never composts, she actually digs up the topsoil and throws it away at the end of the growing season. I think she thinks it just regenerates magically or something.

You can tell where she used to have a bed on my plot, because the topsoil is only about 6 inches deep in those bits, while it's a good 18-24 everywhere else. Even the weeds don't like growing on her old patches.

[Two_Sheds]

someone mentioned it can strip nitrogen

That's if you bury it, not if you use it as a mulch (like a forest does).