Harvesting folio duff ( leaf mould ) from the woods is a enceinte path to increase the organic issue and mineral contentedness of your gardens while adding beneficial microorganisms and fungi .
Steven Edholm recently posted on the benefits of using leaf mouldover at the Skillcult blog :
So , why foliage duff ? I habituate leaf duff mostly on seed bed . Leaf duff is not just shredded leafage or any constituent subject . One trait it has is that modest flat pieces are efficient at Earth’s surface coverage . Why spread over the surface ? To keep water in and protect the soil . Almost any mulch can protect the grime for fall back urine . It also protects the soil for the pounding effect of rain and watering , which can pulverize it and destroy it ’s structure . Most agriculture systems use polish for a intellect , it break up grease crusting . compress soil wicks away moisture faster by capillary action . light dirt can act like a mulch , greatly slowing water departure . Crusting also inhibits the penetration of urine into the soil , so we not only have rapid passing , but less infiltration .
Lets say I set a bed of carrots . The seed are very small and they take a long clock time to fare up . If I do n’t cover them at all , as soon as I water , the soil begins crust over . Each time I water , it will become worse . Once crust the water supply I do add will not get across the pie-eyed dirt surface as easy and what does sieve through will pull up stakes quicker . Adding almost anything from coffee terra firma to saw debris , to compost will help alleviate this job . Leaf duff , sifted through a half in screen , if applied cautiously and sparingly , efficiently protect the soil , but will still allow the seeds to come though . If I do n’t cover the bed with anything , my carrots are going to be hard to keep moist enough for full germination . Since the take a long time to arrive up , and are plant shallowly , I ca n’t intervene by breaking up that crust . I plant cultivated carrot on an either 2 inch or 3 inch grid pattern , so even when they do derive up , polish is very unmanageable . I usually mulch lightly to get them up , and when they have all emerge and develop a little , I sift more fine mulch over the layer .
We ’ve had this exact job with cultivated carrot . My solution has been to use finely sifted compost to spread over the planted carrot seeds ; however , get some free mulch / compost from the woods is a great idea .
Steven also has a tops simple inactive method acting of accumulating larger measure of leafage mould :
“ The system of rules is dewy-eyed . run low out and pull together a lot of this stuff over the years , you notice that it is deep where divets are create in the landscape . leave move downhill quite a turn and accumulate in low spots or behind dkm that produce hollows . So I set up some logarithm in strategic places accross the landscape painting when out doing forestry piece of work . I think the steeper the hillside , the more , or quicker , leaf will collect . It takes a few age to accumulate enough and break down adequately , but it ’s a unsubdivided intercession and you could revisit them over and over once dress up . ”
Check outhis complete position ( and accompanying video ) here .
I ’ll essay this method acting on my carrot this year and see how it works .
