Jen Fulkerson wrote: The seeds will do fine in the beginning because of the top soil/compost layer, but what happens when the roots, especially root crop veggies hit that chopped layer. The same question for the seedlings.
My concern would be for the root veggies: a) My understanding is that root crops like carrots will be more inclined to make multiple roots if they hit an obstacle. That said, the carrots will taste just the same!
b) my worry about something like potatoes is that if it's a variety that goes deep (not all do) the fresh organic material there might encourage rot.
However, I wouldn't worry about plants like Kale which would likely just suck up all those goodies. If they don't like that layer, I expect they would spread their roots wider instead of deeper, which may affect their need for water, but not necessarily cause the plant much grief.
I think this is an interesting experiment and I'm very curious to see how it turns out!