What happens if I put too many leaves in my garden?

   / What happens if I put too many leaves in my garden? #1  

jimgerken

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I like to put dead leaves from the previous year, saved in bags, down on the garden soil surface between rows to reduce weeding and conserve moisture. This year, I excavated a trench thru the garden too, to bury electrical power to a building. I buried it plenty deep, about four feet. Even though I tried to keep the clay seperate and then put it back into the trench first, some got mixed into the rest of the soil. The garden generally looks a bit tough right now after the trenching and backfill. I have plenty of leaves and so I thought I might put down a layer now, and till it in, to give the worms something to do this winter, reduce the frost depth, etc. What happens when I eventually put too many leaves in the soil? Do I have to add something else then, some other nutrient or something?
Thanks for any ideas...
 
   / What happens if I put too many leaves in my garden? #2  
Too many leaves in the garden is kinda like saying too much money in the bank. :D:D

Pile 'em on.
 
   / What happens if I put too many leaves in my garden? #3  
If you till them in, you can load them up. just don't leave them lay in heavy layers on top.
 
   / What happens if I put too many leaves in my garden? #4  
Back when I tilled several dozen gardens each year for hire, I had one customer that added a tremendous amout of 1 year old composted leaves to his small garden each fall. All I can tell you is that his soil resembled a fresh chocolate cake in texture in the spring. The only concievable thing I can think to check, is your soil's PH in the spring and adjust if needed for whatever you plan on growing.
 
   / What happens if I put too many leaves in my garden? #5  
If you have enough decomposing leaves in the soil it may be nitrogen depleted.:D
 
   / What happens if I put too many leaves in my garden? #7  
There is really not much wrong with putting leaves on your garden. The only thing you should do every year is get your soil tested for at least PH. The breakdown of the leaves raises the PH significantly and lowers your notrogen level. So if your PH is to high you will have to apply some sulfur to lower the PH level and apply some nigrogen(urea) to raise the nitrogen level. Also people that burn wood usually put there ashes in there garden and this does the same thing.
 
   / What happens if I put too many leaves in my garden? #8  
I grow pumpkins and watermelons right out of straight leaf compost, and people cant believe how good the fruit look. I have always heard the it raises the ph level, but i have never had a problem with getting things to grow in it so i have not tested. Here is a pic of the pumpkins and watermelons, This is leafs composted for a little over a year.
 

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   / What happens if I put too many leaves in my garden? #9  
I grow pumpkins and watermelons right out of straight leaf compost, and people cant believe how good the fruit look. I have always heard the it raises the ph level, but i have never had a problem with getting things to grow in it so i have not tested. Here is a pic of the pumpkins and watermelons, This is leafs composted for a little over a year.

Those vines look absolutley incredible. Do they prefer Coke over Pepsi? :p

I compost all my leaves seperate from the garden and then add them in the following season.

Don
 
   / What happens if I put too many leaves in my garden? #10  
Years ago I added many leaves to my garden each year. In the fall, I would shred them and leave them in a pile until the next spring. After the plantings emerged I would mulch the whole area with about 2 inches of the leaves. By then grass clippings would be available and I would layer them on top of the leaves. By summers end, all the leaves would be gone, eaten by all the night crawlers!

If the leaves are shredded, they do not mat.

One comment on the wood ashes... be very careful about adding them to any garden. A few are a good source of potassium but the danger is putting too much potassium on.. I know someone that did that and his vegetables were no longer sweet. High K makes them bitter. If you want to spread ashes where they will be used best, put them around trees and bushes.
 
 
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