This might be a bit tangential but here's a link to the YouTube playlist I gathered for the relevant RHS L2 module ('Plant nutrition and the root environment'). If you click on the hamburger (three lines near the top with a little arrow) you get the full list rather than playing the first video:
Dawn13 I'm not going to even try to be in any way scientific but, as a simple soul myself, I content myself with being simple in my outlook. Any part of vegetable matter, in your case a leaf, has grown via natural processes using nutrients brought up from underground as sap. In autumn the sap drains back down into the root stock but the piece that withers, dies and falls to the ground is the result of that growing process, i.e. has SOME of the plant's nutrients still left within it. Leaves dug into the soil will thus improve its condition, provide some nutrition and, in answer to another recent post, will darken clay soil, if appropriate, to help raise its temperature for seed germination the following year. Leaf mould can only be beneficial.
When I said above that leaf mold doesn't add much nutrient, I was thinking of, say, adding it to a potting mix for annuals. You wouldn't get much in the way of 'food' for your plants that way, I don't think.
This might be a bit tangential but here's a link to the YouTube playlist I gathered for the relevant RHS L2 module ('Plant nutrition and the root environment'). If you click on the hamburger (three lines near the top with a little arrow) you get the full list rather than playing the first video:
Dawn13 I'm not going to even try to be in any way scientific but, as a simple soul myself, I content myself with being simple in my outlook. Any part of vegetable matter, in your case a leaf, has grown via natural processes using nutrients brought up from underground as sap. In autumn the sap drains back down into the root stock but the piece that withers, dies and falls to the ground is the result of that growing process, i.e. has SOME of the plant's nutrients still left within it. Leaves dug into the soil will thus improve its condition, provide some nutrition and, in answer to another recent post, will darken clay soil, if appropriate, to help raise its temperature for seed germination the following year. Leaf mould can only be beneficial.
Very helpful and informative (as ever). Thank you!!!
@LG_ is there a video you particularly recommend in your playlist?
Not particularly! Remember that I gathered them for revision purposes, not because I necessarily thought they were gospel or perfect explanations. That's why there's a mnemonics one for learning nutrients and a couple on double digging! But I thought that if you were interested in how soil works and how nutrients are used by plants you might find them useful. Probably the most relevant one for you is the last one about leaf mould.
Most impressive, but I'm afraid I dig mine in and leave my old friends, the worms, to digest them and feed my plot. The next time I dig, they've all gone. This more elaborate process is ideal for harvesting leaves from outside your property.
It's easy to over analyse everything - especially in gardening. The main thing to remember is that leaf mould benefits the soil, whether it's light, sandy, free draining stuff, or wet, heavy, sticky clay, and therefore benefits all plants. That isn't the same as feeding when it comes to heavy flowering plants - roses, clematis most annuals [especially in pots] etc. Those need extra food, whether it's granular or liquid, to assist them. Shrubs and trees need no help of that kind.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Posts
http://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLirtZef1iQ7oLA6tf4L6PnzSFPyjo6QE6
Wow, thank you!!!
https://youtu.be/TCepKIMDrFk
That isn't the same as feeding when it comes to heavy flowering plants - roses, clematis most annuals [especially in pots] etc. Those need extra food, whether it's granular or liquid, to assist them. Shrubs and trees need no help of that kind.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...