Lono wrote:I considered buying the "Edible Forest Garden" yesterday! I can't remember why I chose "Weedless Gardening" over it. So funny that you and I are trying this at the same time, and there is a whole movement to stop the carnage of tilling. I wonder if this is another of the messages from Gaia floating around for receptive people to pick up on?
I'll keep you updated on my process if you'll do the same. The flower bed in front of my yard is pretty much dead soil. I added stuff to it, but I noticed while digging that there were almost NO earthworms. Bad sign. Consequently, none of the flowers I planted there are doing very well. I'm hoping that if I use this method it'll spring back to life by next year.
When you spread the leaf material on your garden, did you chop it up, or put them in whole?
Crazy! Yeah, it was a good read. I think you're right about people picking up on these messages from gaia in some form.
I was contemplating the idea of living soil the last few days. If one accepts the fact that the soil is alive, then what constitutes it's immune system? Surely tilling and digging the ground destroys all the hard work of the plant roots, bugs, worms and microbes that inhabbit the soil. This can't be good for the overall immunity of the soil. If one looks at what happens to broken ground, nature begins to heal itself quickly in a miriad of ways depending on the previous condition of the soil. What we consider weeds or small native plants begin to set in, colonizing the soil. Interestingly these plants are typically useful herb species that are also helpful to humans for healing purposes as well. For instance, in my area, dandilions, thistle, violets, shorel, creeping jenny, plantain, chammomile (just to name a few) all come in to colonize open ground, all of which are useful herbs in some sense. I have to wonder if these native herbs don't consititute the last line of defense in the immune system of the soil.
What scares me are these weed and feed companies that use the spray solution on people's lawns. If you ever get the chance, notice that in the spring the birds will go into these lawns, but once that first spraying occurs, they won't touch the property. I'll bet if those owners were to dig into their soil a couple days after spraying they'd noticed no earthworms to be found. They've just devistated the entire ecosystem of their lawn and possibly the neighborhood by these sprays. Not to mention what happens when it seeps into the groundwater they drink leading to unknown health effects. *shudder*
As far as leaves go, I just threw them on the ground whole. I'm considering getting a leaf shreader this fall though. I know whole leaves tend to be bad for plants because water doesn't pass through them well. Although in my case, that was the effect I was trying to acheive since I didn't want whatever grass was left in this area to come up this year. So far it's worked. I haven't seen any grass, just some of the stronger dandilions. The leaves should be composted enough by next year where it won't matter. So from here on out I might shread the leaves since I do want the soil the have good permability.
I use a lot of straw too. This also helped keep the leaves from blowing around. Straw does have good drainage, so I'm not afraid to use a lot of it. I'd stay away from wood chips or sawdust, unless you're planning on planting something like blueberries. As wood rots it will lock up nitrogen in the soil, or so I've read. Manure is great although I haven't found a place locally that will deliver a truckload of composted stuff. Right now I'm just buying the bags and adding them selectively around some plants. I like the idea about using urine although I've never tried it. The neighbor's dogs seem to be doing a pretty good job in that department though! 
Doc: Marty, you're not thinking fourth dimensionally!
Marty McFly: Yeah, I know, I got a real problem with that.
