Q&A: leaves on gardens, plant competition, soil microbiology, natural roof and a new view

Answering a great question from a viewer about my cold hardy Canadian Permaculture Food Forest garden.

I mention a reddit comment in this video, this is the comment:
https://www.reddit.com/r/boottoobig/comments/g9j5zs/roses_are_red_when_i_go_out_side_i_feel_shy/fou2jpy?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share

The question to me was posted on the previous video as a comment, and I though it would make a great video.

Here are the sections in this video:

Answering question (#2) on leaves in the garden: 2:25 to 8:30. Leaves are great quick turnaround soil builders for a garden. A great mulch, and compost. But you NEED to do this one thing before you use them!

Aside - dealing with slugs and snails: 3:50. These little pests can do a number on your plants, and this trick can help deal with them.

Aerobic vs Anaerobic soil microbiology (the concern with leaves): 10:50 to 11:58. The line in the sand of Good guy vs Bad guy.

Aside - Update on the grape trellis project: 11:58 to 17:54. Useful information on building structures, the importance of bracing, etc. Good engineering tips that I like to throw in now and then (my formal degree).

Answering question (#1) on plant competition, chop and drop, releasing light, guilds, maximizing energy in, so much good stuff here. Question at 8:25, answer at 19:30 to 35:20. I did two asides while walking over to answer that question. It's all great stuff, so watch it all! Very useful information.

Answering question (#3) on natural/living roof: 35:55. My concerns here aren't with biology but with physics.

Maybe my new favorite angle of the new and improved food forest: 40:18. Lovin' that new swale.

For reference, here is the comment that spawned this massive walkaround and all these amazing tips.

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From Stevekeiretsu:

hello my learned friend, you encouraged us on reddit to get involved and ask questions so I thought it might be fun to make a video response.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkxtzQqIU0E

In the understandable event that you don't care to watch 10 minutes of me failing to get to the point, I'll summarise:

1. When you say it's a nonsense to think of plants 'competing for resources' and use that as a basis for removing 'weeds', which are actually doing a job, I take the point when it is trees vs daffs or clover, occupying different roles which naturally co-exist, or even co-depend. But if you are dealing with more 'like for like' cases (e.g. one ground cover species vs another), aren't there are some situations where competing for finite resources is a real thing, and removing some of a less-desired plant might be a valid strategy to encourage the more-desired one?

2. On the topic of covering soil with wood chip / mulch etc, one of my beds gets a thick natural carpet of dead leaves every autumn. I've attempted to respond to this firstly by choosing plants which naturally grow in woodland floor environments like tiarellas and snowdrops, and secondly, indecisively, by gathering some leaves to compost while leaving others to decompose/mulch, but I'm not convinced my approach is any good. Any thoughts on what - if anything - is best to do with this leaf fall?

3. Any thoughts on establishing completely new soil systems on green roofs and the like?

Obviously I am not expecting personalised responses or anything, just chucking out some stuff you may consider worth expanding on in future, or maybe you have past videos already covering similar territory. Cheers!
/end Steve's comment

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Music credits:

Closer by Jay Someday | https://soundcloud.com/jaysomeday

Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License
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