Community Garden Update November 2021
November has been a surprisingly rewarding month in the Community Garden. Having assumed that, once the regular picking was over, there was little of interest to do, I couldn’t have been more wrong.
Once the garden was cleared of the annuals that had dominated since Spring, we were able to take stock of the structure, the soil, and the compost heaps. Clive Dix has come through as our King of Compost, rebuilding the pallet-bays and in the process exposing the most glorious dark and crumbly compost, which we will gradually spread over the beds over the course of the winter, darkening the soil, improving its structure, and feeding the microbiota. Thank you Clive, and thank you to all those who have kindly brought us their grass cuttings, manure, and leaves this year – it has been totally worthwhile – please keep it coming!
Another terrific gift was an entire trailer of mature leaf mould, donated by Ted North – this is something that literally cannot be bought, and has immense value. Thank you Ted! Deciduous leaves decompose in a different way to green compost – they are broken down in cooler, slower conditions, mainly by fungal action (most decomposition in compost heaps, particularly at high temperatures, is bacterially dominated). Good, crumbly leafmould takes around 2 years to form, and cannot be rushed. The only way in which you can slightly speed it up is to increase the surface area of the leaves by chopping them up. Leafmould is low in nutrients, but works wonders for the structure of soils, and is greatly appreciated by soil organisms, which in turn work to make certain minerals available to plant roots.
Thank you to all those who have responded to our appeal for leaves, and do get in touch if you would like yours collecting!
