"use fall leaves to prepare areas for future plantings"
Definetly yes! Meanwhile you can plant garlic in fall-winter, potatoes for spring-summer. 25-30 cm (1ft) thick layer of fall leaves is ideal cover for garlic. You can also harvest long whitish-green garlic shoots, if you like them. I believe "one yard revolurion" guy (youtube) made videos about growing soil by fall leaves while having some good potato harvests. It's Ramp season once again in the Mountain State, and reading about the different ways to utilize your Fall leaves has reminded me that I was ill-prepared last year when it came time to start planting my own ramps for THIS season! The ramp is in the leek family and prefers an area with less Sun, lots of moisture and the more dead leaves on them- the better. That's why we don't find this pungent rare delicacy growing in Evergreen thickets, but rather where deciduous trees are flourishing. I'm going to try my hand at a few raised beds first, as I don't possess the acreage yet to plant this beloved vegetable in the volume I plan to eventually. I'm going to produce my own roots and seeds for my future ramp farming. I always have plenty if you've never tried them! And I assure you - they're like nothing you've ever eaten! I'm also going to try my hand at 'sangin'' this Fall, searching for Ginseng, if you're new to hillbilly terminology. I'm fortunate enough to live in the perfect area of the country where these two rare plants flourish. However, if you don't know the 'where' and most importantly, the 'when' to go out in search of them - I promise you it'll be a fruitless day. Also found in this area, in season longer, and is quite valuable in many areas of the world for it's holistic values mainly, is Yellowroot. We can pretty much find it Spring thru Fall, but you MUST know where to look! I've heard the occasional tale of people re-sending their Ginseng when they dig it up, and that's something I am VERY adamant about with ANY wild plant, and 'Sang' is only going up in value BECAUSE it's been depleted, we've found more uses for it(especially in Asian cultures), and it takes so long to grow. Other than the instant replanting of the seeds while digging, I have never heard of anybody having an actual Ginseng 'farm'. I HAVE heard of a couple property owners here in WV who've found patches of decades old plants and had to resort to extreme measures due to thieves and poachers sneaking in and digging it up at night- but no actual farming of it. I'd actually consider it, but it's something that I'll need to get future generations involved in because like I said- it takes YEARS for a really good Ginseng root to grow. All the plants I'm interested in growing here in WV will benefit greatly from a Fall leaf cover to protect it from the harsh Winters we can have here. Thanks for reminding me!
