ChurchMouse:
As elated growers applied more nitrogen, it bound up with calcium in the soil which, in turn, produced weak cell walls in crops. Insects then arrived to eat the less-than-optimum plants. Growers then applied petrochemical-based insecticide which killed the pests — along with micro-organisms necessary for good, nutritious plants. Further nitrogen applications burned the decomposed plant matter necessary for any other micro-organisms to exist.
More at this link.
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GJ - I was going to write about leaving the leaves alone when ChurchMouse published this.
If we believe in Creation, it only makes sense that letting God's design take over will produce better and healthier results than using stinky, obnoxious, toxic manufactured chemicals.
Man-made chemicals seep through the soil and enter the water table. Organic amendments - like leaves and wood mulch - are held in the root zone by a vast array of fungi and soil creatures. The foundational work is microscopic and largely ignored or not appreciated. The larger creatures, like earthworms, take over from the beneficial work of protozoa, bacteria, and fungi, and enhance what is being done at the microscopic level.
I want the leaves to accumulate along the fences - free mulch and fertilizer. I want the leaves to coat all three rose gardens. The leaves will look like trash in the spring, wet and soggy, but disappear into the soil and birds' nests. I pile up leaves under the Crepe Myrtle bush, repeatedly, in the fall. I have almost nothing left under the growing bush in the spring, when flowers begin to form, and I have the best flowering Crepe Myrtle in our neighborhood.
We collect vast amounts of cardboard, newspapers, and wood mulch, and use them all. Our goal is not to rake up leaves and haul them away, but to grab our neighbor's work and add it to the compost pile, the rose gardens, and the sunny tomato garden.
Pine needles are a pain until blueberries are planted. Then they are a way to keep the weeds down and the acid level up, just what blueberries want.
