I use as much compost as I produce, which isn't nearly enough. Beyond that, I use basically "garbage", mostly garden waste. The bulk of that is in the form of mulching with fall leaves and grass clippings (my own and neighbor's), pulled weeds and plants, coffee grounds, and whatever else comes my way. I mulch with shredded bark in the spring. I just throw the stuff on top of beds and never till. I also avoid most chemicals.

Since I have been doing this, for the past few years, I have seen a pretty big improvement in my soil.

Karen

Go anywhere that serves alot of coffee and ask them to save you the grounds, filters included. You might furnish them with a 2 to 4 gallon trash can with liners...see how often they fill it up and go by and pick them up and put in a new liner (I left several folded in the bottom of the can). Ask produce stands or produce departments in grocery stores to save you leaves they peel off cabbage, corn husks, etc. Some will, some won't. Get grass cuttings or bags of leaves from neighbors. Just keep piling it all on and water it down a bit. Read about sheet composting, lasagna gardening...that should help.

I too collect "garbage" or "yard waste" around the neighborhood for use in the compost and gardens. I use it up so quickly though. Being in FL the organic soil amendments seem to be slurped up by the sand before our eyes, compost piles also seem to shrink at an alarming rate. We also use sawdust, shredded paper/cardboard, and mushroom compost as well as all the wood chips any of the local tree services will dump in our yard when working in the neighborhood.

Who else has budget ideas for where to get stuff to pile in the garden?
What about favorite crops for improving the soil as well as providing cover materials?

Since you are already gathering up the available raw OM in the neighborhood and it disappears quickly. I would go ahead and dig the stuff in. Once you expand the root zone your efforts are increased geometrically.
Be careful about planting too soon after putting raw material underground.

In Florida the soil bacteria never stop digesting the organic matter you put into your soil and to increase that level you need to add more than they can digest, which can be a problem getting enough. Keep looking around for all of the yard waste others throw away and keep adding that. Ask about what your local unit of government does with other yard waste, they may be composting it and making the compost available to residents.

kimmsr
Actually our county does compost yard waste and we go get some whenever it is available, lately though it has run out quickly every time they get it where we can pick it up. I'm down to only one rubermaid of county compost. The county compost looks like nice black dirt with some sand content and a variety of other junk in it like little sticks, bits of glass, and other odd chunks. It is relatively nice stuff that I use strait in containers. Doing a soil test on it says it is of medium fertility.

I also collect coffee grounds and many other things.

So, now that I am quickly using up most organic materials I can find, I am wondering what sort of crop I should grow to get more. Challenge here is if I grow something that looks like grass/weeds that gets over 18" high the county code enforcement will come along and tell me I have to mow it or get in trouble.

Curb shopping. I brought home 16 large bags of leaves last week. I guess somebody finally decided to rake up last year's leaves !

It looks like you have already gone after most of the obvious sources. Depending on where you are you might be able to get some OM from sea food and various agricultural processors although I have heard that Florida is getting pretty good at using up a lot of this stuff in large scale projects.

I was just hoping some one might have some other ideas I hadn't already heard of yet.

I know some people who would let me take their shredded office paper. I also dumpster dive for cardboard of course.

Any ideas for crops to fill the cover materials need? Keeping in mind that I am gardening on a small lot. I'm trying to get some sorghum seeds as I understand it grows fast and makes good cover materials. I have also ordered some comfrey roots, though I understand that comfrey leaves are more of a green materials than a brown cover material.

Was that soil test done by the University of Florida soil test lab in Gainesville? If the soil nutrient levels and the soil pH levels are fairly good you may have sufficient levels of organic matter in your soil. Sand does not hold nutrients at all well without fairy good levels of organic matter in it.

No, that soil test was actually a little home thing you pick up at a hardware store or something. Also that test was done directly on the compost I got from the county.

Our actual soil here is sand. So very sandy that in areas that haven't gotten enough attention, grass and weeds barley grow. The previous owner used lots of chemical fertilizers around the ornamental plants and 2 citrus trees. The only thing the ground seems to be teaming with is ants. I do plan to get some soil tests done but for the time being I have been planting raised beds using compost and/or compostable materials.

tclynx

In the eleven years I have lived in my neighborhood here in North/Central Florida I have seen many nice yards turn south quick once the owner sells. People who keep their yards tip-top using chemical fertilizers, chemical sprays for bugs/disease, and water regularly have very nice yards as long as they keep up the work. Once they stop, the yard dies quick. I have gone organic and my yard looks better each year. It doesnÂt look fantastic, but it is consistent. (St. Augustine grass) I never water and only use organic ferts (alfalfa now, milorganite previously). Starting last year, I began collecting leaves from the neighborhood. I dump bags onto the grass and rake it out, remove any non-leave objects and mow it in. I also use 3 ft tall field fence to crate 5 ft dia. compost piles for more leaves. I am swearing off bringing greens onto the property. During times of drought itÂs OK, but this summer the rains started and all that moisture combined with all my rotting produce created a roach situation. Nasty. Leaf mold will just have to do.

One thing I have noticed, the people who rake regularly, and donÂt use fertilizers, they have sand lots. The trees pull nutrients out of the soil and redeposit it on the lawn in the form of fallen leaves. Raking them up without adding fertilizers spells death to the yard. The people who replace what they rake with fertilizer do good. I am just saying this to illustrate how I came to visualize OPL as a great source of micronutrients for my yard. Builds soil structure and adds micros. OPL also are less likely to contain pesticide residues as people donÂt tend to spray their trees. Any chemical fertilizers have been converted by the trees into organic forms.

I donÂt have any ideas as to other sources of organic matter for you, but personally I think leaves by themselves will benefit you nicely. It is my understanding that cover crops will add nitrogen and help till the soil with their roots. I have never tired due to the concerns you voiced of the city getting on you back. One way around that may be to make a border around your cover crops. Your yard canÂt be over so tall, but your bushes can. As long as it looks like an attempt at landscaping, I donÂt see how you can get in trouble, unless you live under the rules of an HOA.

Good luck

Vance

Vance,
What is OPL does it stand for other people's leaves?
I figure the leaves are not going to pick up too much in the way of chemicals since people are more likely to spray after raking up the leaves rather than before, and even if they did spray the leaves, most of that will get composted anyway.

I will also pick up grass clippings that are bagged up on the curb along with the bags of leaves. I'm not really a strict organic gardener, I just don't want to be handling the chemicals directly or having them sprayed directly on my food or killing my soil. A little on grass that is about to heat up the compost pile doesn't seem too dangerous to be personally. Our compost pile is very hot most of the time so I'm not worried about critters being interested in the "greens". The collected pile of leaves does seem to house some palmetto bugs and other roach type creatures but this is FL and you can't expect their favorite habitat (leaf litter and mulch) to be free of them.

I have thought about trying to make the cover crop planting look like landscaping. I have some great tall amaranth that might serve well in that regard. I am in need of browns as much as greens.

Mulch and moisture.

You can get lots of free chipped wood mulch from tree trimmers.

Whenever tree trimmers are in the area, I tell them they can dump chips in front of my house. Have gotten a few loads that way, great!!!