I gathered up a bunch of old soil I had from last year's outside veggie containers pretty much Happy Frog and perlite, plus what old soil I've used inside for both med and veggie tents. The inside soil would be a combo of Happy Frog, Coco, and two different types of commercial made prepackaged "water only seed to harvest" soils. Dumped everything into a big 96gal clean trash can along with left over Malibu compost, chicken manure compost, and extra aeration of perlite, pumice, and biochar. I figured the old soils needed some amendments but I didn't want to overdo it like I did on my inside soil mix so I only added small amounts, figuring I can always add more - it's not mixed yet so adding is easy. The container is almost completely full so I estimate approx 90gals in it meaning approx 12cf total. Approx 15-20gal of this would include the new aeration I mentioned above I added: 4c neem seed meal 4c kelp meal 1.5 cups Azomite 2c crab meal 1c shrimp meal 1.5c gypsum 1c Dr. Earth Bud and Bloom per cf of soil I've added a maximum of only 1/3 cup/cf of any amendment, on most much much less. Should i add more? Ran out of time yesterday to finish so that's where I stopped. I need to dump it all out and mix it up. My main question now for the post: When I get a chance in the next few days to get all this soil mixed up, is there a benefit to me adding in old leaves laying around the yard and in the outside beds? Since this used soil will NEVER see the inside again and only be an outside soil I would assume adding organic material in would be good, but not sure in this case. I've heard about adding in "leaf mold" and know that's basically just composted leaves. but these leaves aren't really composted - just been out in the beds all winter because they didn't blow away. Any benefit though of adding some in figuring eventually it would compost in the soil mix...or is that a bad idea and it should be composted completely before it goes in the soil? Edit: this is just for outside container veggie gardening use
@Smokey B McBongwater i think the answer starts out as 'maybe'. just make sure the leaves dont come from a black walnut or butternut tree. those trees produce a toxin called juglone that will kill most species of garden plants and grasses. this effect is called allelopathy and just for good ole gardening sake you might want to give it a read. it's all about awareness. trees in the juglandaceae family produce this toxin. if you view the primary reason one adds leaves to the soil and the benefit therefrom is as a 'soil conditioner' then therein lies your answer. i think the answer is most likely 'yes' if you have ~3 mons for the leaves to begin to break down. with the nutrient rich amendments you're adding it might take less time for the leaves to fully compost. please note there is not significant amounts of "nutrients" per se in leaves but with what you're doing that is of zero concern, and any addition of carbon and organic matter is typically a good thing. iow, very few caveats associated with leaf mould or composting leaves in general. earth worms love the stuff. well crafted leaf mould is one of the absolute top tier soil conditioners for adding fertility to the soil. if you've got the time and the materials you wont go wrong. just stick 'allelopathy' in your back pocket to read up on later. good luck, bountiful harvests!
thank you! I'll read up on then tree toxin but I'm not aware that we have any of those two trees around us but i'll try to determine once way or the other. I know we have a lot of ash trees and a lot of pine. the others i have no idea what they are, I'll try to find out. I don't have 3 months to let the soil cook with the leaves in it. I would like to plant outside as soon as last frost is over which is about 6 week from now. Maybe best bet would be to just collect them and pile them for next year or feed them in the worm bin when I get one started.
ahhh, good idea, didn't think about that. I know that is a good idea. thanks. will have more than i need though for just a few small containers on our deck but the rest I should start to collect I'd imagine for good leaf mold compost. can only be a good thing
Mulch the leaves on top of the soil in the trash can. Pull em off when you do something with the soil, and then mulch the soil when its in beds/containers. cheers os
I run all my leaves through a leaf mulcher first. It reduces the volume quite a bit, and helps the leaves break down quicker.
are you familiar with the wire type of outdoor compost bins? very handy. easily moved. no sweat! if you're handy with diy you can pick up a roll of 12-14 ga hardware cloth (fencing) and easily make a circular one. great for leaf compost. the good chit will be on the bottom. as i said, earthworms love leaves and will cluster underneath and forage making black gold. good stuff! remember π (3.14159265359)
yep, i'm familiar and that's what i was thinking about to use for a leaf bin. lots of trees in my backyard so shouldn't take too long to fill up a bin i'd imagine.
I reuse my soil. It goes from my compost bin outside. Then to a my worm farm and then eventually back into my garden inside the next year. Don't waste your money on new soil. Keep using and maintaining what you have and it will get better with each cycle Sent from my LGL158VL using Grasscity Forum mobile app