sorry, I don't mean to nitpick, but "temporarily" is a relative term.

Will it inhibit just the early growth, but break down soon enuf for this
season's crop?

As far as additives, I try to avoid them, since it's a decent sized garden
and that can get expensive
Last year we did use blood meal in a few rows and the difference was
noticeable.

Thanks

Barry


"zxcvbob" wrote in message
...
Brynk wrote:
Last fall I had many, many truckloads of leaves dumped on my property to
use
as soil ...when... they break down.

I have timber soil which is poor for most plantings.

I'd like to dump in a foot or so into my veg garden, as I do with horse
manure each year, but I'm wondering if it would detract from plantings
rather than enrich the soil.

Will more nutrients be used up to break down the leaves than feed the
vegetables?

--

Barry


Both. The leaves will temporarily tie up nitrogen in the soil, and they
will eventually release it again, along with trace elements and other
goodies. Go ahead and do it, and plan on supplying extra nitrogen
fertlizer -- maybe water the plants with Miracle Grow. Don't add a bunch
of ammonium sulfate to the soil or you will drive away the worms. Maybe a
little fertlizer grade urea or cottonseed meal would be good though.

Bob

--
Have a Windows® computer that is powered on for hours at a time? Join the
search for a cure for cancer: http://grid.org/projects/cancer/