I use coastal hay from Tractor Supply as a mulch and as a soil additive. Seems to aerate, retain moisture and breaks down as part of the composting process.

Hay is my first choice...however, I ride a motorcycle and I just don't know how I'd get it here.

The reason I ask about oak leaves is that I've got BILLIONS of them, have already mulched the azalea beds and all the hedges with them, have given 63 bags to my neighbor that uses them as mulch, and have a carpet of leaves that is at least 9" deep, with 3 trees not having shed all theirs yet AND 2 males that are in full bloom...

When I do get rid of all the leaves, it starts all over with the pollen...

Have to do more research...thanks though, I would prefer hay, but the leaves are free and already here, lol

add some dolomite too and you'll be good to go. Oak leaves make the beds to acid for most veggies, but the dolomite will help correct plus add micronutrients. $5 a bag at HD.

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When John Starnes starts a new bed he adds a bag of cheap, plain clay cat litter to a 10 X 10 area. WallyWorld, less than $3. This helps with water retention.

Here is a link that might be useful: Urban farms in Florida

Found the original article from 2003.

Except for a period of insanity where he lived and gardened in Boulder CO, John Starnes has gardened sustainably in Florida sand near Mac Dill AFB since the '70s.

Here is a link that might be useful: Starnes article

We have 50 oaks, half dozen or so pines, one super large black cherry and another dozen or so 'small' trees. We produce a whole.bunch.of.leaves. Oh, and I get leaves and grass clippings from the neighbors. And our neighbors have lots of oaks and pines.

We have some mowable ground cover during summer and winter. And, I overseed winter rye. During heavy leaf falling periods, I mulch mow first. Then go back over and bag. I have two zones I dump the bags, one in the back and one in the front. During normal times of the year (no excess leaf falling), I mulch mow primarily and include the two leaf dump zones. Mulching over the leaves over a period of several months reduces it to nicely small particles.

I spread dolomite/lime twice per year, usually. Sometimes I'll spread milorganite.

In the front, I have a bottomless kids sandbox; roughly 4'x4'x8" that I fill with the mulched up leaves, needles, grass, tree stems and dead fall (from the dump zones) and add kitchen scraps. And add shredded mail. Whenever I can get a bag of used coffee grounds I add that. I don't really do much turning of the compost pile; it is full of worms and other bugs that crawl around under ground. I shovel out a hole, fill it with scraps; when it is full move around a bit and start a new hole.

When the pile collapses, or gets too wet; I'll turn it out to a bed. (The bin is full of worms, it doesn't take much time for it to break down.) I try to start with a layer of cardboard, newspaper, and/or junk mail & magazines, old phonebooks, etc; then layer the stuff from the bin, then top with a thin layer of peat.

I use lime regularly, but there is probably some other minerals I should be thinking of. At any rate, all those bags of oak leaves, pine needles and grass cuttings reduce down to a pretty small space in the course of a normal year.

This spring has been the first since the spring of 2006 that I have regularly visited the far parts of our back yard. I have pots that have been unattended back there for more years than I like to think about. One of the pots, a 24" heavy clay pot has a black colocasia that has survived by itself. It had a good 6" of mother nature provided compressed leaves, pine needles and dead fall mulching the plant. And the pot had a healthy earthworm family. And by compressed, I mean that I had to work to tear the compost mat into pieces so as to not tear up the colocasia. This was before the rains, and the soil was not dried out.

I'm thinking there is a lesson in that pot for me. (big grin) Maybe I don't need to mulch mow so much!

~dianne

I'm guessing oak leaves by themselves, uncomposted, will be too acidic for veggies. They are recommended for azaleas & blueberries - both acid lovers.

Hay or straw is my 1st choice for veggie mulch as well - if I'm short of that, I'll use grass clippings or even bagged compost.
I've also used shredded palm & banana fronds.

FWIW, veggies do best in a rather neutral pH - between 6 & 7, I believe?