pgh wrote in message ...
Thanks Simy1.

Patience I can definitely have.

To get those leaves, I'm assuming I'll have to wait
till the fall. Are you suggesting then that I resign
myself to have a mediocre first season. That's ok,
but I just want to make sure I understand your
suggestion.

You could consider 2 inches of manure, and then you will have a good
first season AND some soil conditioning. Then in the fall you go down
the street and collect all those paper bags full of leaves and pile
them in your backyard for ripening (if you put them directly on the
beds you will invite voles - plus garlic can not push through thick
leaves).

One word of advice: some veggies prefer warmer soil. So for tomatoes
you may want to put the leaves under the plants in, say, June. Leaves
by themselves do not a fertile soil make. You will have to add more
manure, or wood ash, or wood chips, depending on your soil needs.
Otherwise just cover the bed, and when you need to plant a lettuce
sedling just punch a hole through the leaves.


Another question is: is there any downside (or risk)
to promoting the proliferation of worms?



No. Your soil will have high organic content, and worm castings are a
near ideal fertilizer.

Last fall I double dug one side of my fenced garden, to cut the tree
roots
that I was finding in the beds. To avoid further root invasion, I put
down some plastic sheeting before refilling. I am happy to spare you
one such job. But I never dug my beds, and texture-wise my soil is
perfect (if anything, it is too loose to properly support cabbages) -
in time you will learn to recognize "worm crumbs". I tend to rotate
compost/wood chips/grass clippings, manure and leaves - one of these,
2 to 4 inches, every year, and wood ash every year to counteract the
natural acidity.