I'm going to be getting lots of bags of leaves delivered to our place (I found a guy who gets paid to haul them off from peoples' yards and who is delighted to bring them here!)and it seems the perfect opportunity to start a no-till garden. How exactly do I add a layer of leaves to the top of the soil and not end up with their blowing away? Keep them wet constantly? I need an answer because my father-in-law, on whose land we live, wants to disk them under for me with his tractor. I haven't found a good website explaining the no-till method, only places to order Ruth Stout's books.

-- Elizabeth in E TX (kimprice@peoplescom.net), November 11, 2001

Answers

I didn't realize there was a no-till thread just below this--sorry! I was in such a hurry to get an answer:o) Maybe I can answer my own question now that I've read that other thread--if I start with a small garden, say 12'X20' to take an arbitrary figure, I could simply edge it or fence it with something to keep the leaves from flying away?

-- Elizabeth in E TX (kimprice@peoplescom.net), November 11, 2001.

Another question: do those of you who use this method usually combine it with raised bed gardening? I really am not finding any information by searching the 'net and can't afford to buy a $15.00 book right now.

-- Elizabeth in E TX (kimprice@peoplescom.net), November 11, 2001.

all I do,, is lay it down,, I do a raised bed, square foot garden combo,, ,, but I have snow that will hold it in place,,, could lay a fence ontop of the leave,,, Basically,, all you want is to add compst to the top, of the soil and let the worms till it for you,, eventually,, you will have a raasied bed,, that will keep raising as you add more.

-- stan (sopal@net-port.com), November 11, 2001.

Stan is right. You may want to water it upon first laying it down, but then it starts decomposing and holds itself in place. Add some soil or compost as well. Just keep layering compost, leaves, straw, dirt, chicken litter. I like to top it off with something that will look 'dressed' for the winter, so I top off with bark chip mulch stuff. Whatever you have access to. It is important to me not to spend any money, so I use damp newspapers on top of the sod or old cotton sheets (I have plenty of these from my massage work). These keep back the weeds during the crucial first year. No-till means you don't have to disk. You will not believe the earthworm action next year at this time.

-- Anne (HealthyTouch101@wildmail.com), November 11, 2001.

I know this is kind of a pain, but if you can shred them or run over them with a lawnmower with bagger, they'll stay down easier. And decompose a little faster. We've also covered ours with hay, since hay is what we mainly use - don't have alot of trees on our place!

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

Elizabeth, if you have a library in your area, even if they don't have Ruth Stout's books, ask them to get the books via intralibrary loan. That's a great way to get ahold of books when you don't have the money to buy them.

-- Sheryl in Me (radams@sacoriver.net), November 11, 2001.

Hi - I also use things like big wads of shredded paper (like from an office-type shredder) and hold it down from blowing away with tiny shovels of fresh green manure, between plants so it wasn't touching/burning any of them - it also repelled the dog enough that he stayed out of there for over a month! Helen

-- Helen, in WI (applebake@cybrzn.com), November 11, 2001.

Go Mulch Go! But I am so envious of your delivery service! Especially since i sold the dodge & now have a little rice-burner. The leaves have a 'felting' action that pretty much ties them together. It takes a pretty stiff & gusty wind to set them sailing. Leaving them in the bags for a week will start the composting process & steam them a bit. So if you do have a blustery day or a lot of light weight birch leaves they won't fly away. For the best felting action open a bag of leaves pouring them all in one mound, move down a bit open another, making giant windrows of leaves. Then the fun part! W/ your wellingtons on & any volunteers available walk down the 'mountain' rows this compacts them marvelously and makes you feel like a kid in gramps big ole leaf pile again. I have only watered down leaves that were added to narrow flower beds. Because there was not enough leaves to knit together. Be prepared with plenty of smart aleck responses for the neighbors' questions about those mysterious bags in your feild! Warning no-till is often so much fun you may not feel like a real 'farmer'.

-- bj pepper in C. MS. (pepper.pepper@excite.com), November 12, 2001.

See if you can get your hands on a book by Ruth Stout. She was totally into mulch and not into tilling. She would just push the mulch aside and plant.

-- (dshogren@uswest.net), November 12, 2001.

Do a search engine search for "Interbay Compost". You'll find all sorts of information. They also call it "Lasagna" compost.

-- Catherine (cathdv@aol.com), November 17, 2001.

If you are trying to find Ruth's books cheap, you might try HALF.COM or ALLBOOKSTORES

-- Earthmama (earthmama@yahoo.com), November 17, 2001.