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Soil, Compost & Mulch

Oak leaves tilled into garden soil

8 years ago

I probably did a stupid thing so help me out here. I had 4 large garbage bags of whole oak leaves bagged up for about 2 years. Where there were holes in the bags the bottoms had turned into leaf mold, but most of the leaves were still whole. I covered the area where I later set my onions, broccoli plants and potato sets. Do I dare plant parsnip seed under that tilled in oak leaf soil? What about bean seed? I also set a row romaine lettuce plants. Which things are going to be a problem?

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Comments (4)

floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
8 years ago
2 year old leaves will not bother your seeds or transplants at all. Just make sure it isn't too deep over seeds and that the seeds are in soil, not leaves.
toxcrusadr
8 years ago
Mother Nature recycles leaves all the time. Don't worry about it. Enjoy the vegetables. :-D
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I agree that it all depend on the pH of your existing soil and the availability of nitrogen. Leaves are carbon based and most are acidic. So they can throw the pH out of whack temporarily and will bind up the soil nitrogen while they decompose IF they are tilled in. Often you will find you have to add lots of supplemental nitrogen for the plants. Best result this close to planting is to use them as mulch on top of the soil as glib suggested. That way the soil N is available for the plants to use, not the leaves. You'll find several discussions about this very topic over on the Soil, Compost & Mulch forum here including one long discussion from several members who tilled large amounts of oak leaves in in the spring last year and learned the hard way that nothing would grow. Dave
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Anytime you till organic matter in to soil you could get the soil bacteria working hard at digesting that organic matter, and in my experience that can result in the organic matter being well digested and no residual left, humus, in the soil. Organic matter put on to soil as a mulch will not get digested that fast and will be there much longer and will not cause the soil bacteria to digest it all that well and that will leave some residual, humus, in your soil. Just how quickly will depend on where your soil, and the Soil food Web, is. A good healthy soil will be different then would be a soil that is not good and healthy. So if you till organic matter into your soil and it is still there several months later that should be an indication that your soil is not as good and healthy as it could be.
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In this area if you buy topsoil what you get is clay mixed with some sand and shredded. No organic matter. My neighbor built an addition and when done tried to replant a lot of grass. He bought "topsoil". I suggested he mix in mushroom manure, he didn't. In the fall he hired a landscaper to redo it. The landscaper added more of the same "dirt". At least he covered the seed bed with the mushroom manure. My new potato bed which I amended last fall and planted potatoes in the spring is still raised up about 6 inches. And I need to add maybe another inch of mushroom manure and some semi-chopped leafs for next year.
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Richard Brennan
8 years ago
Just be aware that when fertilizing you will need to not only provide nitrogen (N) for the plants, but also for the bacteria and fungus that are breaking down all that carbon in the leaves. Scratch in some coffee grounds & grass clippings. Or use a commercial amendment like fish, cottonseed, or alfalfa meal.
kimmq
8 years ago
Before spreading a fertilizer of any kind have a good reliable soil test done to see what, if any, is needed. Far too often, far too much fertilizer is spread on lawns, gardens, and farm fields that results in the excess flowing out of the soil and into the ground water, with excess water from rain or sprinklers, creating pollution of our drinking water.

kimmq is kimmsr

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