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| Heres the question. I have clay soil here in southern Illinois. It gets very hard here in the hot dry summer and is a bear to keep loosened. I have been composting the last 2 years and had great success with it, but, and there is always a but. I do not really get enough compost to do everything I need to do to the garden and the flower beds.
Last fall my local municipality brought me a load of leaves that were picked up at curbside and I have had a great time using them to compost with. I can continue to get these leave this fall I think. My question is, if I am able to get a few truck loads of leaves , should I compost them or use alot of them to just add to the garden surface and till in to the garden soil to help loosen it that way? |
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| It's probably easier to not compost them, so, being naturally lazy, that's what I'd suggest. Either method gives the same benefit to the soil. I wouldn't till them in until they had broken down a bunch, if then. Spread them this fall, let nature take its course over the winter, and dig in what's left of them this spring unless it's still a lot of material, like more than 3 inches. If it is still a lot, I'd push it aside, plant, and then push it back into the beds as a summer mulch. |
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| What you clay soil needs is organci matter. Tilling is a short term, temporary, way to get clay soil loose if it is done during the short time clay is workable. Many people have laid shredded leaves on clay soil and have seen it transformed into a loose and workable soil over time. Compost is good as well. If there is a bit of the Soil Food Web active in your clay soil they will "till" those leaves into the soil for you, there is no need for you to do that. Get enough organic matter into that soil and there will be no need to till it again. |
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- Posted by toxcrusadr (My Page) on Fri, Aug 19, 11 at 11:57
| Similar problems over here in central MO. I've had good luck building compost piles or just putting piles of leaves on the garden over winter. A lot goes on before the ground freezes and while it's thawing in spring. If you can get some greens, like grass clippings (watch out for herbicides), mix up some big batches of leaves and grass (I use a tarp) and make piles on your garden beds. In spring you can plant right through them. Try not to walk on your clay, and keep it mulched in the hot summer too and it will retain the fluffiness derived from winter freezing and the work of worms. Good luck and report back! |
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- Posted by belgianpup Wa/Zone 7b (My Page) on Sun, Aug 21, 11 at 14:26
| I add about six inches of leaves and they're completely gone in two years if I don't replace them. I can never get enough for the whole property! Also, check the calcium/magnesium levels in your soil, not just the pH. The combo of Ca and Mg should total 80% base saturation. In clay soil, the balance should be about 68% Ca and 12% Mg, or around there (exactness isn't necessary). The Soil Minerals site describes it quite well (link below). Sue |
Here is a link that might be useful: Calcium-Magnesium ratio in soil
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| Add to the surface & don't bother tilling into the soil unless you're energetic in spring. It will loosen up quite a bit after being there all winter with the worms at work. You can plant right through the remains of it in the spring. Getting truckloads of leaves takes up a lot of space. You could shred with the mower first & they'll take up a lot less volume. I've read you could also do it with a string trimmer in a metal garbage can, but I've not done that as the leaves fall during our rainy season. Awesome that you can get truckloads of them delivered to you. When I picked up dozens of bagged leaves from a landscaper at some apartments we shredded them with the lawn mower & bagged them up again to let it rot in an out of the way location. The lawn looked dark with the tiny bits of leaves pushed into the turf, but eventually our winter rains washed it all in, so our grass looked a lot greener & thicker this year. Some shredded leaves went onto other areas of the garden either mixed in with other compost materials or piled on top as we collected them. Some years after shredding we've piled into a circle of chicken wire staked in 3 places as has been suggested as a compost bin, which worked great to contain 'em & then used as a planting bed for potatoes with flowers outside the wire. |
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- Posted by lovestogrow (My Page) on Tue, Aug 23, 11 at 0:18
| The leaves that I get are in a big dump truck that have already been shredded. They are picked up at curbside by a huge vacuum shredder which blows them into the back of the truck until full. The shredder is then removed from the back of the truck and the leaves are then dumped at my property. It makes it great that they are already shredded. I use my front end loader on the biggest part of them to turn them about once a week. I will take a picture of what they look like now compared to when they were brought to me last fall. |
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| Now. I'm jealous. I would even pay for them, but WA is too far away. :o) |
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- Posted by toxcrusadr (My Page) on Tue, Aug 23, 11 at 12:13
| belgianpup: very good info you posted, who knew that CEC research was done here at UMC? It would be helpful to know how to translate the numbers from a standard soil test into 'base saturation %". I was not clear on how to do that. I think the reports I get are in ppm. I'm a chemist and it was not obvious to me, unless I just didn't read far enough. The average layperson is going to glaze over pretty quick trying to read up on this. |
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