On 5/11/10 9:15 AM, Jeff Thies wrote:
If there is one thing I have a lot of, it's decomposing leaf litter
(aside from shade and pine straw).

I've never thought of using this as a mulch (I'm more concerned with
moisture retention than weed blocking). Now, I wonder if this may be a
good thing for some plants and perhaps because of the micro-organisms in
that, not so good for others.

There are a *lot* of earthworms in there. I was thinking maybe the
tomatoes and peppers, and not the cucurbits. Current strategy has been
cedar mix mulch. My impression is that newspaper much is more for weeds
than water retention, am I wrong?

Jeff

Except where I have substantial of ground cover, I mulch all my beds
with leaf litter. I let the peach leaves stay where they fall. In the
fall, I move ash, oak, zelkova, and liquidambar leaves to form a mulch
about 2-3 inches thick. After mulching, I lay thin branches over the
leaves to hold them in place. The primary purpose is to keep the soil
cool and moist in the summer, our rainy season being in the winter. It
also reduces -- but does not eliminate -- weeds. This mulch is renewed
every fall.

My oak gets extra mulch. It's a valley white oak (Quercus lobata) and
really needs a thick leaf mulch across its root zone. Because of winds,
I laid chicken wire over the mulch and anchored it at the edges.

My camellia bed is mulched with the output of my office shredder. The
paper tends to tie up nutrients, which is okay since camellias prefer a
lean (low-nutrient) soil.

Excess leaves are added to my compost pile, which is actually mostly
leaf mold. This is slightly acidic, which is great on my alkaline soil.

I get even more leaves than I can use for mulch or compost. The rest
goes to the county's composting project.

--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean
Sunset Zone: 21 -- interior Santa Monica Mountains with some ocean
influence (USDA 10a, very close to Sunset Zone 19)
Gardening diary at http://www.rossde.com/garden/diary