I don't remove fallen leaves for two reasons, protection for worms, and also because the weeds that germinate right on the leaves are soooo easy to remove. Unless I'm doing a complete redesign where I need to see what goes where, I don't bother. also, put mulch right on top of leaves, a thin layer just for looks in the visible areas of my garden.

Sounds like prev. owner might have added soil on top of sand, as you suspect.

That IS where the wall is built, so it may have been foundation soil for that, but I don't think so, because the other wall just has plain old sand. Who knows? Maybe they had to add clay later on to shore up the wall or something. These apartments have been here since the 70s, I think, so it's a mystery that will likely never be solved.

I definitely want to protect and feed the worms! I was so thrilled to see worms in the ground here, that I will do just about anything to protect and help them. Plus, that side is a southern exposure, so the leaves are needed to keep the soil cooler for the little wigglers too.

Whether or not to remove the old leaves is purely your choice-what you can tolerate. Again, a much different situation up here but I like to leave ((buh dum bum) as many leaves as possible. It really seems to mimic Ma Nature's way of slowly but steadily feeding the soil.

I'm with you, wisconsitom. I don't care how they look, the complex doesn't care, and the neighbors seem to like the flowers enough not to complain about how they're planted, so I'm leaving them. At some point, I may cover them with the free pine bark mulch, cut maybe just Spanish moss. It looks a little neater when it turns brown and mats down, and it holds everything in place.

I shudder to think of all the money I spent over the years buying cypress mulch. I'm trying to reverse some of that bad karma.