It's that time of the year where the leaves are ferociously falling and you feel like the cleanup will never end. STOP racking up those leaves and use them to your advantage! Mulch, Mulch, Mulch and your soil will love, love, love you for it!!! I take advantage of my lawn mower this time of year and quickly mow over the fallen leaves in my yard. I leave the mower bag on and dump all the leaf remains in my garden beds. This is when the "microherd" moves in and does MAGIC for my garden, no joke, garden magic.
    The Microherd is the millions or maybe billions of beneficial microbes living harmoniously under your soil. They will rock your plants world, turning your common leaf into soil haven.  This beneficial herd is comprised of fungi, bacteria, mycelium, isopods, beetles, centipedes, spiders, ants, worms and more. These soil organisms are munching away at the new found food of the leaves, excreting it out and turning your soil into a nutrient rich food for plants. Not only are the living organisms having a party under your soil, they're creating a happy home for your garden.
    So, the main lesson of this story is, TAKE ADVANTAGE OF YOUR LEAVES!! The Microherd will fertilize your plants for you.

Soil

“Essentially, all life depends upon the soil ... There can be no life without soil and no soil without life; they have evolved together.” --- Charles E. Kellogg

I was inspired to finally start writing my blog when reading a post by Sustainable Eats. They are challenging their reader to twelve months of Urban Farm innovations.

Though, I am not an urban farmer. I strive to be in the future.  This year I concentrate on growing my own vegetables, next year, possibly chickens? Let's see what my bird dog have to say about that.

So here, I am taking on February’s challenge of soil building. Okay, it's May, but better late than never.  I currently have a slow moving cold compost bin and a worm bin.  For the month of May I will start an active hot compost pile. Check out my resources page to learn more about composting yourself.

Remember; treat your soil like a forest floor.  With a constant feed of organic matter you will invite soil building creatures into your garden to grow a beautiful food web of life. Your flowers will love you for it!!