In article , Victoria
Clare writes
Janet Tweedy wrote in news:iuiOCeDBuNp
:

Victoria don't you find that rotting clippings would take the nitrogen
from the soil? I always thought that it had to be well rotted or the
action of the decay locks up valuable minerals in the soil. On the
other
hand if it's on top of a layer of well rotted stuff perhaps it doesn't
matter?

I've not found this to be a problem to be honest. I usually bung on
some rabbit droppings or chicken manure pellets at the same time, which
presumably helps to compensate.

But, as an example, I have one area atm where I put about a foot of
shreddings on top of soil. They have compacted down a bit in the couple
of months since I applied them. I thought a foot of shreddings would be
enough to hold down the dandelions underneath, but they have grown right
through, and are now pushing up bigger and greener than ever before -
certainly not in the manner of weeds lacking in nitrogen!

I'm wondering whether this is less of a problem than it used to be. My
reasoning is that for years we have been busy applying nitrogenous
fertilisers to agricultural and garden soil. The advice given by
Plantlife to anyone wanting to encourage wild plants is basically to
start by spending several years allowing the current vegetation to grow,
then cutting it down and removing it from the site, basically reducing
the nitrogen levels so the 'desirable' native plants can compete
successfully with the nitrogen-guzzlers.

We're also many of us battling with blanket weed in our ponds and
applying the same sort of techniques.

Have we reached the stage where for a lot of purposes lack of nitrogen
simply isn't a problem?

I haven't added anything to the garden for years, and may be working on
a slight loss as I take thorny trimmings to the council green tip rather
than shred them myself. Yet everything is flourishing and I certainly
have no signs of nitrogen deficiency.

Again, I have no idea how this works with veg - I don't have enough sun
- but as far as loganberries, rhubarb, apples and pears are concerned,
we get more than enough for our needs.
--
Kay Easton

Edward's earthworm page:
http://www.scarboro.demon.co.uk/edward/index.htm