after cleaning off my garden this fall i covered it with old mulch & leaves. should i this on the ground all winter or plow it under ?

-- David Coyner (dkoiner@webtv.net), November 10, 2001

Answers

I pile leaves on my garden, let it set all winter,, then plow under in the spring

-- stan (sopal@net-port.com), November 10, 2001.

Ditto on what Stan said. Even better if the hens can scratch it all up for a few months.

={(Oak)-

-- Live Oak (live-oak@atlantic.net), November 10, 2001.

With the local clay soil just itching to become hardpan, I don't till. The earthworms go down about 9 feet and the topsoil is just a big layer of compost/humus after a few years. Give it a try. Reserve a part of your field for 'no till' and transplant a few tomatoes or a couple of hills of cukes. You might be surprised at how long they produce & how little disease problems they have.

-- bj pepper in C. MS. (pepper.pepper@excite.com), November 10, 2001.

We used to pile leaves on our garden in the fall and leave them until spring but here in Nebraska with the snow and ice, come spring we had a hard time getting our garden in early because the leaves matted down and it was cold and frozen under the leaves or too wet. Now we pile on the leaves in fall but we mow over them right away. They mulch up very nicely and we get the benefit of leaves on the garden as well.

-- Nancy (nannyb@huntel.net), November 11, 2001.

We don't till, either. Our soil is too rocky, so after the initial two plowing to get it setup, we just keep it covered with a year- round mulch (mainly hay). It's amazing how productive our garden is every year, with no chemicals, and without alot of work. And lots of earthworms!

-- Leslie in MO (whomestead@hotmail.com), November 11, 2001.